<strong>Aviation milestone: </strong>Former British Overseas Airways Corporation air steward Peggy Thorne, 91, pictured seated, served on the first turbo jet engine flight between New York to London on October 4, 1958.
Aviation milestone: Former British Overseas Airways Corporation air steward Peggy Thorne, 91, pictured seated, served on the first turbo jet engine flight between New York to London on October 4, 1958.
Courtesy British Airways
<strong>Exciting experience:</strong> Thorne, pictured left in 1958, remembers vividly this momentous aviation milestone. "It was exciting, it really was," she tells CNN Travel. Pictured right: crew members on board the BOAC Comet.
Exciting experience: Thorne, pictured left in 1958, remembers vividly this momentous aviation milestone. "It was exciting, it really was," she tells CNN Travel. Pictured right: crew members on board the BOAC Comet.
Courtesy British Airways
<strong>New era</strong>: The flight cut transatlantic air travel from up to 20 hours to the roughly 7-hour journey we know today. Peggy Thorne, on the right, is pictured here with the crew of the first transatlantic jet engine flight.
New era: The flight cut transatlantic air travel from up to 20 hours to the roughly 7-hour journey we know today. Peggy Thorne, on the right, is pictured here with the crew of the first transatlantic jet engine flight.
Courtesy British Airways
<strong>Travel opportunities</strong>: Thorne was intrigued by the prospect of traveling as an air steward. "I suppose in the 1950s, there were not a lot of opportunities to travel," she recalls. Pictured here are Thorne, center, with British Airways staff members Sophie Picton, left, and Nadine Wood, right.
Travel opportunities: Thorne was intrigued by the prospect of traveling as an air steward. "I suppose in the 1950s, there were not a lot of opportunities to travel," she recalls. Pictured here are Thorne, center, with British Airways staff members Sophie Picton, left, and Nadine Wood, right.
Courtesy British Airways
<strong>Luxury travel:</strong> Air travel in the mid-twentieth century was an opulent affair. Pictured here are passengers relaxing on the sleeper seats in the new Comet 4 during a demonstration flight at Hatfield (a British airfield), prior to the inaugural flight.
Luxury travel: Air travel in the mid-twentieth century was an opulent affair. Pictured here are passengers relaxing on the sleeper seats in the new Comet 4 during a demonstration flight at Hatfield (a British airfield), prior to the inaugural flight.
Courtesy Douglas Miller/Keystone/Getty Images
<strong>World traveler</strong>: Thorne loved being on board the inaugural New York-London flight, but she says it wasn't her favorite route. "I used to try and stay on the Tokyo-Australia line, because we had Rome, Beirut, places like that, which to me were far more interesting than going to New York," she says. Pictured here is the BOAC Comet in the air.
World traveler: Thorne loved being on board the inaugural New York-London flight, but she says it wasn't her favorite route. "I used to try and stay on the Tokyo-Australia line, because we had Rome, Beirut, places like that, which to me were far more interesting than going to New York," she says. Pictured here is the BOAC Comet in the air.
Courtesy Keystone/Getty Images