
N888WA in a poor state
Comet Mk.4C
Registered 07/10/1960 XA-NAT to Mexicana – Delivered to Mexicana ‘Golden Knight’ November 1960
Stored Mexico City from December 1970
Registered N777WA May 1973
Transferred to Distribute Air Inc. 1977 then bought by Redmond Air in November 1979.
Derelict Mexico City
Comet Mk.4C
First Registered G-AOVU October 1959
Registered 31/12/1959 XA-NAR to Mexicana – Delivered to Mexicana ‘Golden Aztac’ June 1960
Withdrawn from use 1970 Stored Mexico City
Registered N888WA July 1973 Westernair, Albuquerque. Various owners until July 1979
Transferred to Paine Field, Everett, Washington
Ownership transferred Everett Community College’s Aviation Maintenance Technician School in 1984.
Boeing funded BOAC livery. Restoration Project underway
Restored by Technical School and BOAC livery funded by Boeing – see an inside and out video here
Comet Mk.4C
First Reg. G-APME de Havilland. Re-reg. G-AOVV 12/11/1959
Registered 03/12/1959 XA-NAS to Mexicana – Delivered to Mexicana 14 Jan 1960
Withdrawn from use December 1970 Stored Mexico City
Registered N999WA Westernair in June 1974. Redmond Air of Redmond bought the Comet in 1976. It was ‘sold’ to Dick Drost and was delivered to O’Hare in December that year. The sale collapsed and by 1979 it was declared no longer airworthy.
Plans to restore were considered and for various reasons fell through.
Robt. Hood writes:
‘XA-NAS stood derelict at O’Hare from about 1978 through its breakup in 1993.
An attempt was made by members of the local Rotary Club to disassemble the
aircraft for shipment to the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.
Unfortunately, transportation for the disassembled Comet could not be
arranged (for lack of about $45,000) and the ship was broken up for scrap.
A trailer load of parts that had been sent to O’Hare to support that Comet
was later sent to Seattle, where we are using some of them for the Seattle
Museum of Flight’s restoration of C/N6424, XA-NAT’
Sale materials – Westernair