The last original de Havilland Comet left the ground for the first time in six decades at an event last week.
The 1952 Hatfield-designed and built aircraft is one of the star exhibits at the de Havilland Aircraft Museum in London Colney and had to be moved to make way for construction of a new super-hangar.
Resting on a specially built steel cradle, the six-tonne aircraft was lifted just more than a foot by a 50-ton hydraulic crane and moved sideways more than 30 yards to its new position.
Brian Kern, Comet project leader at the museum, said: “This Comet is the only one of the first batch built to survive entirely unaltered with its square windows, so it was a very anxious moment when it was raised and moved.
“Any damage would have been disastrous, but the crane operators performed the job smoothly and expertly, and we were very relieved when they lowered it safely back onto the ground.”
The aircraft is one of three built for French state airline Air France.
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