1974 revisited

I found this picture of an old Comet 4 from Dan-Air in London. This pic is from 1969, but I flew it from London Gatwick to Le Bourget (Paris) in 1974. The short flight was memorable for several reasons; the aircraft was a Comet 4, the best and last of a line of aircraft that were infamous for exploding and falling out of the air. This fact did not inspire confidence as we ascended the stairs of this charter airliner. Another fact was that upon takeoff it made very loud noises, together with a rhythmic shudder that went through the craft for the whole flight. The final nail in this unforgetable flight was the announcement by the hostie that we were coming into land at Copenhagen. She corrected herself quickly after realising the loud murmur erupted from the assembled passengers who all thought they were arriving in France. Yes, you guessed it, she got it wrong. The aircraft was continuing on to Denmark. This was 1974 and my first experience of a cut price airline. 30+ years later cheap flying has improved immensely.