First flight and first B(E)A flight was on the 17th of December 1968 on a Comet 4c Helsinki to Heathrow. Exciting times for an eighteen year old who never really thought he would ever fly on an aeroplane. Used to go and see them at Turnhouse, remember more the RAF types doing their displays. However I was seeing the world differently from the decks and bridges of ocean going tankers which had it's own excitement until the bottom fell out the British Merchant Navy.
Anyway I was going home after 7 months at sea and that was adding to the moment, just a pity when I got home I found out my girlfriend had found someone else. Only real memory of the flight apart from the type of plane was thinking how small the plane was but it managed to swallow all these people that were waiting to board but I also felt a bit disappointed in the size of Concorde the first time I saw it in the flesh at Marseille airport in January 1973.