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

Francesca Street
By Francesca Street, CNN
5 minute read
Updated 6:18 PM EDT, Thu October 4, 2018
<strong>Aviation milestone: </strong>Former British Overseas Airways Corporation air steward Peggy Thorne, 91, pictured seated, served on the first turbo jet engine flight between New York to London on October 4, 1958.
Aviation milestone: Former British Overseas Airways Corporation air steward Peggy Thorne, 91, pictured seated, served on the first turbo jet engine flight between New York to London on October 4, 1958.
Courtesy British Airways
<strong>Exciting experience:</strong> Thorne, pictured left in 1958, remembers vividly this momentous aviation milestone. "It was exciting, it really was," she tells CNN Travel. Pictured right: crew members on board the BOAC Comet.
Exciting experience: Thorne, pictured left in 1958, remembers vividly this momentous aviation milestone. "It was exciting, it really was," she tells CNN Travel. Pictured right: crew members on board the BOAC Comet.
Courtesy British Airways
<strong>New era</strong>: The flight cut transatlantic air travel from up to 20 hours to the roughly 7-hour journey we know today. Peggy Thorne, on the right, is pictured here with the crew of the first transatlantic jet engine flight.
New era: The flight cut transatlantic air travel from up to 20 hours to the roughly 7-hour journey we know today. Peggy Thorne, on the right, is pictured here with the crew of the first transatlantic jet engine flight.
Courtesy British Airways
<strong>Travel opportunities</strong>: Thorne was intrigued by the prospect of traveling as an air steward. "I suppose in the 1950s, there were not a lot of opportunities to travel," she recalls. Pictured here are Thorne, center, with British Airways staff members Sophie Picton, left, and Nadine Wood, right.
Travel opportunities: Thorne was intrigued by the prospect of traveling as an air steward. "I suppose in the 1950s, there were not a lot of opportunities to travel," she recalls. Pictured here are Thorne, center, with British Airways staff members Sophie Picton, left, and Nadine Wood, right.
Courtesy British Airways
<strong>Luxury travel:</strong> Air travel in the mid-twentieth century was an opulent affair. Pictured here are passengers relaxing on the sleeper seats in the new Comet 4 during a demonstration flight at Hatfield (a British airfield), prior to the inaugural flight.
Luxury travel: Air travel in the mid-twentieth century was an opulent affair. Pictured here are passengers relaxing on the sleeper seats in the new Comet 4 during a demonstration flight at Hatfield (a British airfield), prior to the inaugural flight.
Courtesy Douglas Miller/Keystone/Getty Images
<strong>World traveler</strong>: 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. Pictured here is the BOAC Comet in the air.
World traveler: 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. Pictured here is the BOAC Comet in the air.
Courtesy Keystone/Getty Images
British Airways celebrates first jet engine transatlantic flight
London CNN  — 

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.
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.
Courtesy British Airways

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.