England’s Dan-Air was an independent charter and scheduled airline that operated the largest fleet of de Havilland Comet 4 aircraft in the world. Between 1966 and 1976 they owned 49 examples of this aircraft.
Like most airlines in the UK, it was eventually purchased by British Airways in 1992 after financial difficulties. Just 114 Comet 4 aircraft were built. What were they like?
Comet 4 Seat Plan
Dan-Air operated the aircraft in an all economy class configuration. Below is a seating plan from 1969 and you will immediately see there is a notable difference in how seats are numbered compared to today.
Seats are numbered like a theatre, starting at 1 and ending at 106. I imagine it worked just as well as the current system, though perhaps people were more inclined to wonder if their seat was an aisle, middle or window since there’s no way to tell.
Inside A Dan-Air Comet 4
The National Museum of Flight at East Fortune in Scotland is not only home to British Airways Concorde G-BOAA. There are many aircraft to visit, including a Dan-Air Comet 4. The flight deck is old school as these aircraft entered service in 1958 with BOAC.
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- Comet 4 Flight Deck
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- Dan-Air’s funky cabin
As this aircraft was retired in 1980, it retains its funky 1970s interior. Flying as a passenger was certainly different to today! The front row seats face each other which is interesting.
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- Facing front row seats
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- The non-smoking section!
Of course back then you could smoke on board aircraft and it is divided into smoking and non-smoking sections. What is also fun is that windows feature curtains rather than the plastic blinds of today.
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- Curtains at the emergency exit
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- Flight attendant’s panel
Everything is rather manual, such as the switches on the flight attendants panel. No modern LCD screens or whiz bang technology on this old bird.
The Worst Seat In The House
Down the back is a row of seats that not only have leg room that would make Ryanair wince, but they are also missing a window. I give you the worst seats I’ve ever seen.
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- Just keep packing ’em in!
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- Outside looking down the aircraft
Imagine being crammed into the middle seat there on a two hour flight. Not a lot of fun! The leg room is actually pretty tight throughout the aircraft.
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- Tight leg room (not my legs!)
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- Individual Air Vents
It is probably a good thing that passengers had individual air vents. That would probably be a big help for the claustrophobic people who were travelling!
Overall Thoughts
Whenever people say flying was better back in the day, I take it with a pinch of salt. I’ve been to the museums and seen some of the seats and configurations that were available and I’d argue we’re living in the golden age now.
Aviation was more interesting back in the day as there were more manufacturers producing different kinds of aircraft. Plus you had visible technological advances on a regular basis which would have been fun.
As a passenger I am glad I am flying now and not then though! Did you ever fly with Dan-Air or remember their Comets? Thank you for reading and please leave any comments or questions below.
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Featured image by Piergiuliano Chesi via Wikimedia Commons.
Dan-Air seat map via Facebook.
I flew on a Dan Dare Comet 4 on a school trip in 1977. It looked just like the interior photo with the striped seats, but my seat was broken and fully reclined. I did point it out but the flight was full and they let it go, I guess things were different back then, especially as it was a school charter. The type seemed really old even then but I remember thinking it was cool to fly on the first successful commercial jet airliner. It was the 1977 Kent Educational Cruise, can’t remember if it was from Gatwick but… Read more »
I doubt you’d get away with having a broken seat these days, they usually block them off. Different times! Great that you got to go on the Comet though, it’s something I would have loved to have done. Sounds like some experience! Thanks for sharing that, I enjoyed the read.
Used to take Dan Air charter Comet from Malta to Abidjan Ivory Coast late 1970s. The Comet was incredibly loud and was like flying in your living room with curtains on the windows. It was piloted by Terry Thomas twin with the Carry On gang as crew. We ran short of fuel one night a had to land at a closed Ouagadougou, Upper Volta airport. That was an experience to remember.
Wow, definitely sounds a bit more seat of the pants flying than today. Not surprised the Comet was loud, those early jets were not quiet at all, and the Comet might have been one of the worst. I’ve seen the curtains in the windows – definitely different to today. Sounds like a memorable experience all round 🙂 Thanks for that!
Back then almost the entire flight was by dead reckoning of the flight navigator. If ‘he’ was unable to get a sun or star sighting for an accurate fix an aircraft could easily get ‘lost’ & have to make an emergency unscheduled landing. There was no Sat-Nav, GPS, or related auto-pilot back then. The PiC could set the auto-pilot but the auto-pilot would fly ONLY what it was instructed. It was up to the navigator to ensure that the PiC made the necessary adjustments to keep the aircraft where it was supposed to be, irrstpective of what the wind &… Read more »
Yes indeed, the Navigator was really important in the early days of flight. The crew used to be a Captain, Co-Pilot, Flight Engineer, Navigator and Radio Operator. I think the Radio Operator was first to go, Navigator next and Flight Engineer was the last to lose his role to technology. Things were very different in the past, that’s for sure!
i think my first flight was in a Dan air comet from Bristol to Alicante in 1976. I thought at first it was very pleasant trundling down the runway that was until it stopped, reved the engine and then took off like a bat out of hell. Quite interesting the other end when you looked down at the airport and saw what appeared to be several crashed aircraft but apparently they were only old ones that had been cannibalised for parts. Worrying for a moment though. Quite an experience.
Hahahahahahaha! Fantastic! You know, I’ve only been on a turbojet aircraft twice (Fokker F28-4000) and my first flight was very much like yours. Stopped, full power of screaming noise, then we launched like a rocket, which shocked the hell out of me. Too funny! Love the “what appeared to be several crashed aircraft” – I think Dan-Air had plenty of Comets they used for parts. Great experience you had there and thanks for sharing – enjoyed the read!
As we passed over Lourdes the pilot told starboard side passengers to look out of the window while he gently banked so we could see it. He then told the port side to look out of their windows and he practically stood the thing up on its wingtip so they could see it as well. We also had a four hour delay on the way back as French air traffic control were working to rule,
interesting times.
Getting those views sounds sporty! Can’t see pilots doing that today, that’s for sure. Interesting times indeed!
Back in the day Alicante airport was famous (infamous) for the wrecked airframes which were left adjacent to the main runway. Had that been any other part of the Western world they’d have hauled them away & broken them down for the parts somewhere a little more discrete than at the side of the runway.??? The Spanish, possibly because Alicante was (at that time) still eessentially a Military airfiled or possibly because the country was (at the time) a Military dictatorship, was not as squeamish about such matters & the airliner wrecks stayed where they were as a reminder to… Read more »
It’s always interesting when you see old planes at the airport that clearly aren’t flying again. A totally different thing to seeing wrecks – that must have been fascinating! Thanks for the comment!
Only made flight on a Comet and that was a pre-retirement pleasure flight out of Gatwick in the early 80s. I had one of the rear-facing seats you see in photo above. If I remember correctly it was G-DBIT, which ended up at Blackbushe in an unsuccessful project for conversion to a restaurant. I was sure it was broken up but it is currently showing as preserved. There was definitely a sad-looking hulk being cut up there in either 1984 or 1985 (can’t remember which now but ’85 was the last year they allowed us to race there) when we… Read more »
Great that you made it on board a Comet at least once in your life. I would have loved to have experienced that myself. Great stuff there – I bet the drag racing was fun too – sure sounds it!
Thanks for the pix. My first ever flight was in 1970 on a Comet 4B with three fellow students going to Le Bourget for a four week French language course in Brittany. Yes I was nervous (see below) and yes we were at the front facing each other! The flight was uneventful but I found the engine noise a bit scary. And since we were undergrads on a Metallurgy degree course we knew all about metal fatigue…. Say no more – and it was a relief to land safely. Twelve months later I started my industrial year in Paris studying… Read more »
Great that you got to experience the front seats facing each other, as there was only one set of those on the aircraft. I can imagine you would have been slightly more nervous than others, being on a Metallurgy degree, what with the history of the Comet 1. Even so, fantastic you got to experience one of the original jet airliners of the world. Sounds like you really enjoyed France. I enjoyed reading that, thanks for taking the time to write in!
I think the comet featured was the one I flew back from Santorini to Gatwick on, end of september 1980.I recall that the pilot told us it was the final flight for that Comet and that it was going to a museum. We cheered (the lack of leg space was notorious, once seated it was almost impossible to move unless you were on the aisle) then we all sang ” Who´s the one we all adore, Dan Dair, Dan Dair, Who´s the one we all wait for,Dan Dair,Dan Dair, (flight delays were common). Dan Dair, Dan Dair, Dan Dair gets… Read more »
It certainly sounds like this could be the one. The leg room is horrific, so you’re right, you’d want to be on an aisle flying on this. Sounds like a good bunch on that flight, since you were all singing away! Haha – what an experience! Thanks for the comment!
Went on two school cruises in the 70s flown out to the ships on Dan Air Comets, loved it, got to go up to the cockpit, gave me a huge desire to fly, which I subsequently fulfilled
That is pretty awesome! I would have love to have flown on a noisy old Comet! Did it inspire you to be a pilot then? Either way, I can understand it. I’ve been hooked since my first flight and never looked back
I flew several Dan Air Comets, You are right that leg room was restricted. But flying in the 1970s was a golden time. On a two half hour flight to Spain passengers would get boiled sweets for take off and landing. A complimentary hot three course meal, compliemtary tea and coffee. An English newspaper to read on your return flight and kids were welcomed into the flight deck to see the view from up front in mid flight. Dan Air did squeeze passengers in. But so did everyone else. The 737s Dan had seated exactly the smae number as all… Read more »
That’s a pretty decent on board service for a flight to Spain! Great that you got to experience all of that really, I would have loved to have flown on a Comet. I can imagine how much of an adventure it would have been back then, considering it was the real start of the package holiday era. Thanks for the comment, love hearing from people who were there!
I remember them flying a bunch of BAE-146s. Thanks for the link to the museum. Had no idea!
East Fortune is well worth the visit in Scotland. I had a fantastic time there climbing all around all of the aircraft. It’s really a lot of fun!