Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the first trans-Atlantic jetliner flight

What was it like to travel on the first passenger flight of a trans-Atlantic jetliner?

Former British Overseas Airways Corporation air steward Peggy Thorne, 91, says the experience was unforgettable.

“It was exciting, it really was,” she tells CNN Travel at British Airways HQ’s Heritage Center, where she’s guest of honor at the airline’s 60th anniversary of this aviation milestone.

British Airways’ predecessor BOAC flew the first turbo jet engine aircraft – the British de Havilland Comet 4 – from New York to London and London to New York on October 4, 1958. Thorne worked on board the eastbound flight.

Airplanes had been criss-crossing the Atlantic since the 1930s – with BOAC rival Pan American inaugurating the world’s first trans-Atlantic passenger service in June 1939.

But before 1958, these trans-Atlantic flights took up to 20 hours, with several stops along the way. The BOAC milestone achievement cut this lengthy journey to the roughly 7-hour direct stint we’re familiar with today.

Amazing experience

Peggy Thorne, pictured left, in her BOAC uniform ahead of the first transatlantic jet engine flight in 1958 and the crew on board the BOAC Comet.

As a young woman, Thorne had a thirst for adventure. It was this desire to explore the world that led her to become a flight attendant.

“I suppose in the 1950s, there were not a lot of opportunities to travel, and I was then a secretary in the foreign office, so I’d seen a bit of the world,” she recalls. “And I thought, I don’t know, it seems a lot more interesting than what I’m doing now and so I applied, joined, stayed throughout my career.”

Thorne says the tasks she did on board flights were pretty much exactly what air stewards do today – and she would know, in the lead up to the anniversary celebrations, Thorne spent the day with British Airways cabin crew members doing their training on flight simulators.

“I was so impressed with the way it was laid out with the mock-ups of the aircraft, because in the dark ages when I did my training, I don’t think we had an aircraft to train on,” she laughs.

Thorne, pictured center, with British Airways staff Sophie Picton, left, and Nadine Wood, right.

One big difference was that air travel in the mid-twentieth century was still very much an opulent, luxurious affair.

“On the Comet 4, when it first came in, of course, it was all super luxury, reclining chairs, first class silver service,” says Thorne. “But I mean its service otherwise has not changed a great deal.”

Customers enjoyed cocktails and canapes, a five-course lunch with wines and afternoon tea.

Rich and famous

Passengers relaxing on the sleeper seats in the new Comet 4 during a demonstration flight at Hatfield, the British airfield, prior to the inaugural flight.

On the New York-London route, Thorne met many fascinating, often famous figures – perhaps unsurprising when you consider nabbing a seat on one of these flights would set you back the equivalent of over $1000.

“It was such a novel thing, so people coming up the steps you’d recognize them – film stars and diplomats and people – and obviously they wanted to be the first to be on this wonderful new aircraft, which it was. It was a lovely aircraft.”

On board the first ever-flight were dignitaries, press and the chairman of BOAC – plus a last-minute assemblage of ‘regular’ fare-paying passengers.

“When we left London, as a crew we didn’t know whether we would get the noise clearance test from Idlewild [now John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York] which was the airport we were flying to, because the Americans had a very strict thing about flying over population areas and Pan American was hot on our heels. We rather thought ‘Well, they’ll give it to them.’”

Indeed, Pan American was eager to be the first airline to fly an aircraft – in its case a Boeing 707 – across the Atlantic. In the end, Pan Am was beaten to the post by BOAC by just three weeks.

Peggy Thorne, right, with the crew of the first transatlantic jet engine flight.

The BOAC crew flew their airplane over to the US a couple of days before the October 4 flight. When the plane landed in New York, Thorne says they stripped the aircraft to ensure it was light and would pass the noise clearance test. Once they got the go-ahead, there was a mad dash to find passengers to fill out the airplane.

“We rang around New York to see if there were any fare paying passengers who could come on board by 7:00 the next morning,” says Thorne. “The company managed to find 15 who’d already paid for flights when this happened. So what was lovely is we did have privately fare paying passengers on board.”

On October 4, two Comets departed London and New York, each attempting the trans-Atlantic journey. The London-New York flight had to stop in Newfoundland, Canada to refuel, but the New York-London flight, which Thorne served on, reached London in record-breaking time.

The Comet 4, pictured, was powered by four Rolls Royce Avon jet engines.

Thanks to favorable winds – a phenomenon that still impacts the speediness of aircraft on this route today – the flight arrived in just 6 hours, 12 minutes.

The Comet 4 was powered by four Rolls Royce jet engines buried in pairs in each wing. Its cruising range was over 3,000 miles at an altitude of between 35,000 and 40,000 feet.

The Comet might have helped BOAC win the trans-Atlantic jet race, but the Boeing 707 ended up being the aircraft used for both BOAC and Pan Am’s trans-Atlantic flights – thanks to its larger seat capacity.

Still, the Comet 4 cemented its place in aviation history thanks to the 1958 flight. For aviation geeks keen to see the original Comet 4 plane in the flesh, this famous aircraft is currently display in the Imperial War Museum in Cambridgeshire, England.

Fond memories

Centenary celebrations: 2019 will mark 100 years of international air services operated by British Airways and its predecessor airlines -- including Aircraft Transport and Travel, pictured left, which operated what's considered the world's first daily international passenger, mail and parcel service -- between London and Paris in 1919. Pictured here: Aircraft Transport and Travel poster by MB, 1919, and Imperial Airways by an unknown illustrator circa 1926.

Changing trends: 70-year-old Paul Jarvis, former Assistant Company Secretary at British Airways and now Curator of the BA Heritage Collection, has compiled a book of eye-catching posters from the past 100 years -- charting changing trends in aviation in advertizing. Pictured here: Imperial Airways poster by Steph Cavallero 1935 and Imperial Airways poster by Shurich, 1935.

Public appetite: "The posters have always been a particular interest of mine," Jarvis tells CNN Travel. "We have about 1,200 poster artworks in the collection, and a few other quite important artworks as well." Jarvis felt there was a public appetite for these posters and decided to put them together in a book. Pictured here: Imperial Airways poster by James Gardner, 1938, and Imperial Airways poster by Stanley Herbert, 1935.

Evocative images: Jarvis is the author of the new book: "British Airways: 100 Years of Aviation Posters," published by Amberley Publishing in association with British Airways. "There are so many evocative, gorgeous posters," says Jarvis. Pictured here: British Airways poster by unknown, 1936, and British Airways poster by Marshall Thompson circa 1936.

Stunning showcase: In the book, Jarvis showcases the posters and provides context about the story behind them. "The very early days it was very much just about persuading people to fly at all," he reflects. "There were quite a lot of people who thought flying [...] was just a passing fad." Pictured here: British Airways poster by unknown artist 1936, and BOAC and Qantas poster by Stanley Herbert, circa 1947-50.

Personal favorites: Jarvis says he can't choose a favorite poster in the book: "The front cover one I particularly like as an artwork in itself, by a very well known French artist Albert Brenet," he says. "But how do you choose, because there are many others like that as well." Pictured here: British South American Airways poster by Gwynn, 1946, and BEA poster by unknown circa 1949.

Stunning designs: In a book full of stunning posters, there are some designs that stand out including the image on the right. The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), one of BA's predecessors, used Walter Herz's original Olympic artwork to promote traveling to London for the games. Pictured here: BOAC poster by Abram Games, 1948, and BOAC poster by Frank Wootton circa 1952.

Explorations: Era-wise, Jarvis says the 1960s speaks to him from a personal level (that's the decade he started working at BA). "But from a purely [...] archival perspective it has to be the 1930s," he adds. "Because all the explanatory work that was [being done], new aircraft coming in." Pictured here: BEA poster by unknown, 1953, and BOAC poster by unknown, 1953.

Global world: In the mid-late twentieth century, international aviation became more and more common. "An explosion of air services from 1946 when we started operating to New York because aircraft now had the range to reach it," says Jarvis. Trips to South Africa and Australia also became possible. Pictured here: BOAC poster by Bernard Sargent, circa 1953, and BOAC poster by Laban circa 1953.

Cross-continental: These BOAC posters concentrate more on the destination than the aviation experience and were part of a series of posters released in the 1950s charting BOAC's cross-continental travel. Pictured here: BOAC poster by unknown, circa 1952, and BOAC poster by Eric Pulford, circa 1959.

Romance and escapism: By the 1960s, posters were becoming more photo-led to match the growing popularity of TV advertising. These BOAC posters promote the romance and escapism of traveling abroad. Pictured here: BOAC posters by unknown, circa 1960s.

Changing times: Jarvis says advertising has changed a lot since the golden age of travel: "It's so expensive to get print media out there, now, in any meaningful quantitative way, that reaches a wide audience," he says. "I suspect their heyday from the '30s,'40s, '50s, even the '60s, are probably long past and never will be repeated." Pictured here: BOAC posters by unknown, circa 1968.

New beginnings: In the early 1970s, BOAC and BEA merged to become British Airways, the airline we know today. Pictured here: British Airways poster by Foot, Cone & Belding, now Draftfcb London Ltd, 1974.

Concorde and club world: The early years of the newly re-branded British Airways celebrated the Concorde and the first fully flat bed for its Club World business class passengers. Pictured here: British Airways poster by unknown, circa 1976, and British Airways poster by M&C Saatchi, 2000.

Continued innovation: Jarvis says advertising may have changed, but remains innovative. Take the London Olympics posters, for example: "No one can say they're not creative -- they're very simple, digitized images of athletes and aircraft. I think they're beautifully done," he says. Pictured here: British Airways poster by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, 2012.

Vintage British Airways posters celebrate 100 years of aviation

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Thorne loved being on board the inaugural New York-London flight, but she says it wasn’t her favorite route.

“I used to try and stay on the Tokyo-Australia line, because we had Rome, Beirut, places like that, which to me were far more interesting than going to New York,” she says.

Over the years Thorne’s friends and family “got used to” her jet setting adventures, she says. Her career was part of a new chapter, the Jet Age, where fast trans-Atlantic travel became an everyday reality.

She’s thrilled, she says, to return to British Airways HQ to relive her high-flying youth.