Launched amid a blaze of British pride and technology, the beautiful de Havilland Comet was the world's first jet airliner. Its inaugural passenger-carrying flight in 1952 heralded a new era of luxurious, smooth and quiet air travel that was the envy of the world.
Brian Rivas worked initially as a newspaper journalist on the Basingstoke Gazette before a career change to the hi-fi business; he lives in Somerset.
