Moving Forwards | 1960

TOP:
Airline - Royal Imperial Air Company
Aircraft - DeHavilland DH.106 Comet 4C | G-ADDA
Delivered to the Royal Imperial Air Company, 1960
Leased to Singaporean Overseas Pacific Air Service, 1963
Returned to the Royal Imperial Air Company, 1972
Sold to Anglican Airways, 1973
Sold to Aeromexicana, 1975
Preserved at Museo de Avion Durango, 1981
Livery - Standard 1947
Country - Great Britain

BOTTOM:
Airline - Royal Imperial Air Company
Aircraft - Hawker Siddeley HS.748 Series 1 | G-ADVL
Delivered to the Royal Imperial Air Company, 1960
Sold to Awyr Ddraig, 1967
Sold to AerienCorse, 1975
Sold to Britannia Falconair, 1987
Stored at London Southend Airport, 1994
Scrapped at London Southend Airport, 1996
Livery - Standard 1947
Country - Great Britain

In 1960, to better compete with British International Airlines, RIAC purchased Hawker Syddeley HS.748 turboprops for use on domestic and short European routes. The aircraft shown here is a Series 1, which was quickly replaced by the Series 2, and by 1968 all Series 1s had left the fleet.

The Comet 4C, a higher-capacity version of the original Comet 1 featuring better engines, bigger fuel tanks and wings, and many other changes, was operated by RIAC for only thirteen years despite the improvements made to it by DeHavilland. During this time, a large part of the fleet spent eleven years leased to Singaporean Overseas Pacific Air Service.

The short life of the Comet 4 in RIAC's fleet was partly due to bigger and better aircraft becoming available in the 1960s, and partly because of the operating cost of the Comet. The type also never fully recovered from the bad publicity generated by the Comet Disasters in the early 1950s. After G-ADDD - one of the sisterships of the Comet 4 shown here - crashed on landing in Kinshasa in 1973 while operating the second leg of the Cape Town-Johannesburg-Kinshasa-Timbuktu-London route, killing 84 passengers and crew, the type was quickly retired.