Jet airliners had been around since the Comet first carried passengers from London to Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1952. But those early jets were very thirsty for fuel compared to today’s airliners, and long routes required several stops.

However, Boeing and Douglas began to develop jet airliners of their own, and the competition to increase the range of the speedy new airplanes was heating up. It was clear by 1958 that a trans-Atlantic jet service was on the horizon, and several airlines were preparing to be the first to make the historic flight.

Pan American had ordered Comets from DeHavilland, but a series of well-publicized crashes after the jets entered service had the company rethinking its jet strategy. Pan Am President Juan Trippe desperately wanted to offer trans-Atlantic jet service, and with the Comet no longer on the order book, he managed to get the two U.S. aircraft makers into a competition to build a jet capable of the nonstop crossing.

In the meantime the British-made Comets’ problem of metal fatigue leading to cracked fuselages had been fixed. BOAC was finally clear to expand their use.

When Boeing introduced its 707 model, Pan Am had the airplane it needed to begin offering flights between the United States and Europe. Juan Trippe touted the trans-Atlantic flights as a new era in travel, and the first Pan Am flight between New York and London was made with a Boeing 707 on Oct. 26, 1958.

Unfortunately for Trippe, trans-Atlantic jet service was old news. BOAC had made the first-ever flights three weeks earlier, using the DeHavilland Comet 4, an upgraded version of the original.

The Oct. 4 westbound flight had to stop in Newfoundland to refuel, but was able to complete the London–New York route in 10 hours, 22 minutes. The eastbound flight was able to take advantage of friendly tailwinds and made the trip to London in a record-breaking 6 hours, 11 minutes. Propeller planes were taking more than 14 hours to make the multistop trip between the two continents.

With the British beating the Americans to making the first crossing, the Comet received a less-than-friendly welcome in New York. According to one of the passengers on the trip, they were booed as they disembarked and walked towards the terminal.

In the end, the Comet with its limited number of seats lost out to the 707. BOAC went on to fly the 707 on its own trans-Atlantic flights. The airline eventually became British Airways through a merger and continues flying the Boeing 747 between London and several U.S. cities every day.

Today a massive fleet of aircraft completes about 600 nonstop flights between Europe and the United States every day.

Source: Various

Photo: BOAC DeHavilland Comet, 1960
Wikimedia/GNU Free Documentation License

See Also:

• May 21, 1927: Lucky Lindy Flies His Way Into the Celebrity Ranks
• June 15, 1919: First Nonstop Flight Crosses Atlantic
• Sept. 1, 1974: New York to London in Less Than 2 Hours
• Oct. 4, 1957: Russ Puts Man-Made Moon in Orbit!
• Jan. 31, 1958: The Earth’s Girdle
• Feb. 3, 1958: Silent Spring Seeks Its Voice
• July 9, 1958: Surf’s Up, as 1700-Foot Wave Scours Alaskan Bay
• July 29, 1958: Ike Inks Space Law, NASA Born in Wake of Russ Moon
• Sept. 12, 1958: Kilby Chips In, Integrates Circuit
• Oct. 8, 1958: Takes a Licking, but Keeps On Ticking
• Oct. 30, 1958: Medical Oops Leads to First Coronary Angiogram
• Dec. 19, 1958: Ike’s Greeting the First Recorded Message From Space

Authors: Jason Paur

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