I've been short of fuel consumption data for the Comet, and I cast the net wide for information last year. Just before Christmas, a former Comet engineer, Mike Pyment, wrote to say he'd found a set in his attic while hunting for decorations. I collected them in the New Year, and spent the equivalent of two entire man-weeks scanning and indexing vast volumes to make them searchable on my hard drive. I'm very pleased to have done it, but it's not a job I'd like to repeat in a hurry! I fully appreciate the work done by people like Peter Gill at Flight Manuals on CD.

In 1997, Mike Pyment bought the nose from Comet C/N 6407 when it was being scrapped at Boscombe Down, and has spent the last ten years restoring it to health. More on this later ...

Tags: History