On this date in 1958, the first regularly scheduled transatlantic passenger service with jet-powered aircraft began. Two British Overseas Airways Corporation de Havilland DH.106 Comet 4 airliners left nearly simultaneously from London Heathrow Airport to Idlewild Airport New York, and from New York to London. The westbound flight took 10 hours, 20 minutes, including a 1 hour, 10-minute fuel stop at Gander Airport, Newfoundland. Benefiting from favorable winds, the eastbound flight, commanded by Captain Thomas Butler Stoney, D.F.C., took 6 hours, 12 minutes, and averaged 565 miles per hour. Both airliners were delivered to BOAC on 30 September 1958 and configured to carry forty-eight passengers.
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