Olympic's Comet 4B is operating a shuttle flight from LHR, hence the red BEA sticker next to the rear door. Operated by Olympic from April 1960 to August 1969.

The sole Comet 3 displays to the 1954 SBAC show crowds at Farnborough, operated by DH, but wearing BOAC titles.

Delivered to EAAC as VP-KPK in September 1960. Re-registered 5H-AAF in April 1964. To Dan-Air for spares in January 1971.

The surviving BOAC Comet 1s were stored after the early 1954 crashes. G-ALYW wears full BOAC markings under the plastic cocooning. It was scrapped in 1955.

Taken during dismantling by Dan-Air Engineering at Lasham.

Delivered to BOAC as G-APDM in May 1957. Leased to MEA from March 1967 until June 1967. Also wears Air Liban titles.

Operated by BEA from new in November 1959 until sold in June 1970. Flown by Dan-Air from April 1972 until retired in December 1978.

This Comet 4B served Olympic from new in April 1960 until August 1969. Three BEA Viscount 800s are also visible in this view looking south from the Queens Building central area public viewing terraces.

Delivered new to BEA as G-ARCP. Reregistered G-BBUV on purchase by Dan-Air.

First flew 14 December 1962. Seen on an air test from Hatfield. Delivered to Kuwait 18 January 1963. Sold to Dan-Air as G-AYWX 22 April 1971. Obtained from DH over 40 years ago.

Originally delivered to the Royal Canadian Air Force as 5302 in April 1953. Converted from 1A to 1XB in 1957. Later CF-SVR. N373S from July 1967. Latterly stored at MIA and scrapped in 1975.

Comet 1 being towed to Heathrow North for another scheduled service. Withdrawn in April 1954 after the Comet crashes.

Dan-Air's Comet 4B departs from Ringway in late evening sunshine to start another inclusive tour rotation. It served DA from February 1973 until retirement in late 1977.

Taken at Le Bourget Airport soon after delivery on 7 July 1953. After some service it was sold to DH in April 1954 following the Comet crashes. Later G-AOJU and XM829 with A&AEE Boscombe Down. Obtained from DH 50 years ago.

Delivered to RAF Transport Command in September 1956, serving 216 Squadron and named "Perseus". Converted to 2R for reconnaissance and redelivered to 51 Squadron in March 1963. Retired in December 1974 and displayed at Duxford until broken up in 1992.

The prototype Comet 1 which first flew on 27 July 1949. It wears the "Speedbird" symbol of the launch customer, BOAC, on its nose. From DH Aircraft 60 years ago.

Ex Mexicana XA-NAT, in derelict condition. Was sold to Westernair of Albuquerque in Apr 1973 and registered as N777WA a year later, but this registration was never painted on the aircraft. It was ultimately dismantled at Mexico City in the 1980s and trucked to the Parque Hidalgo de Irapuato in Irapuato, which became the Parque Zoológico Irapuato in Apr 1993. The aircraft remained on display there until scrapped in March 2015.

Mexicana's XA-NAT was stored at MEX from Dec 1970 and became N777WA in May 1973, but this was never painted on the aircraft. Bought by Redmond Air in Nov 1979 (along with N888WA now preserved at Everett, and N999WA, scrapped at Chicago) with the intention of forming a club to fly gamblers to Las Vegas. This one remained derelict at the airport right through the 1980s (note the Dan-Air wing tank). It was moved to Irapuato Zoo where it clung onto life in an increasingly poor state until scrapped in March 2015. Sad to think of such a rare and iconic aircraft succumbing to the breakers so recently, some 55 years after first entering service.

An attempt to fly from Southend to Chivenor for the NATO Day in Auster G-AMFP took us overhead Lasham. Due to headwinds we never made it to Devon... this dodgy shot was taken with a 400mm hanging out in the slipstream. The 1959-build Comet was reduced to spares by Dan-Air by 3.73, while their Ambassador (G-ALZO) ultimately went on to be superbly restored at Duxford. Soon after this, it became the only survivor of the type in the world with the scrapping of G-ALZP at West Malling