RAOC Gazette - page 187
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1981 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | Yes |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1981 |
| Late date | 1981 |
| Transcription |
wards was comparatively uneventful. By the time wc were abeam Paris the sun was low, the daylight showed signs of fading and it was sensible to land at a small field at Drcux. We took a taxi to a hotel and that night spirits were high. The following morning, we were again on an airfield in the dark, ready for an early start. Somewhere under the ice we found the Cessna. After much sweeping, rubbing and scraping, we took off and flew south across France. We reached Perigueux., Once again I thought that the problems had been overcome. We were there. The following day, after agreeing to buy the aeroplane, we found ourselves in a bank in Perigueux. By now I was beginning to suspect that things were not destined to run smoothly and those small misgivings rapidly proved them- selves to be justified. The banking arrangements which I had made with by own bank in London and the French bank in Perigueux had been cancelled by someone the previous month! It was now half-past three on Friday. The banks closed at half-past four and did not open again until Tuesday morn- ing. A rapid telephone call was made to my bank in London where it was agreed that there had never been any question about the length of time for which the facilities should be arranged but that it would take several days to renew the arrangements. Not for the first time, ] began to wonder whether the project, even now, would fall through; but some The engine that played up at Couhe. very unconventional banking arrangements were made and we were able to complete the purchase. A second night was spent in the hotel in Perigueux. Now the thing had been done, I had a Stampe. All we had to do was to fly it back to England. Easy! The usual early morning start was planned for the following day; but the following day had more problems in store. The clouds sat upon the mountain tops. We waited. Eventually they lifted; not a lot, but they lifted; enough to make it worth trying. We took off to see what it looked like and in the face of a severe headwind, crawled our way out of the mountains and across the surface of France making good a ground speed of some thirty five knots and flying round the snow as we came to it. With headwinds like this, the limited endurance of the Stampe made itself felt and the plan included nine refuelling stops before leaving France at Le Touquet. Having been airborne for forty five minutes, the limited endurance of frozen feet made itself even more strongly felt, and the first stop was made at Angouleme. The airfield was deserted. The hangar was open, the control tower was open, everything was open, but there was nobody there. After stooging around looking lost and wasting more valuable time, a small French motor car screeched to a halt and a fierce looking man with a shotgun and a belt full of cartridges popped out. No doubt he had taken advantage of the absence of traffic to fill the larder. Having refuelled, we flew on again to a small grass field at Couhe. For this leg the weather was clearer, visibility was good and spirits rose; but having refuelled at Couhe and gone into the club house to pay the bill, without warning a blizzard swept across the air- field. Where those clouds came from, we don't know. None of us saw them before we landed. There was no choice but to put the Stampe into the hangar and wait—again. Wc waited until there was no point in trying to take off again that day. The welcome in that aero club was superb. There was no question of us' telephoning a hotel. Pierre knew Madam Claude and she would open the hotel for us. There was no question of a taxi, Pierre would take us to the hotel and at the hotel Pierre stayed for one aperitif after another. We were on our way back so it did not matter that much that wc had been held up again; nothing more could go wrong. The next morning the Cessna displayed its ability to do its icing trick twice. It took time to solve that problem, then in the extreme cold of that day the Stampe engine declined to run. In turns Jerry and I pulled that propeller over until lunch time. Doug had borrowed the club Cessna for two days-. This was now the fifth day and he fell that he should really get back to England. He left us. After further fruitless at- tempts to start the Stampe engine, the Chief Instructor announced to his wife that there would be two more for luncheon. After that freezing, depressing morning the thought of hot soup and food was very welcome. The family gathered for luncheon, all talking animatedly in French of which I understood not one word. The soup was welcome, and the soup was followed by an hors-d'ouevre. Now that was irritating because that meant there would be an- other course and by now I ' was ready to get back to the engine—I wanted to go home. After the hors-d'oeuvre came a sort of fish pizza, after the fish pizza, came the roast beef and beans, after the roast beef and beans there came the salad, after the salad there came the fromage, after the fromage there came the ice cream, after the ice cream there came the coffee. During all this I could hardly contain my impatience. The daylight was beginning to fade, my stomach was distended and I was not in a good mood. I do not know how Jerry felt, but he certainly was not saying very much. It was clear that there would be another night in Madame Claude's hotel. Now Madame Claude had opened the hotel specially for us as a favour and she had evidently sent someone out to provision for the evening and she had done sterling work. Dinner started with soup, after the soup was the pate, after the pate came the salmon mayonnaise, after the salmon mayonnaise, roast beef. I really don't remember what came after the roast beef. I didn't sleep that night, I spent a lot of it inspecting the basin. The following day was Monday and after a night like that it was bloody Monday, but the Stampe obviously felt that it had inflicted enough upon us for the time being, it started easily and the weather was fair. The next stop was Tours, where once again we encountered a deserted airfield. Eventually a woman in a bungalow invited us in to the kitchen for coffee while she telephoned for the President. (Well you see Giscard it's like this—we'd like some petrol . . . ) . The president of the aero club duly arrived in his city suit and refuelled' the aeroplane. The next refuelling (Continued on page 422) RAOC OFFICERS CLUB GARDEN PARTY THE Garden Party will be held at GRAVEN HILL OFFICERS MESS, BICESTER on Saturday 11th July 1981 between 1430 and 1700 hours, with the RAOC Staff Band in attendance. The cost will be £1.50 per person and cheques made payable to the RAOC Officers Club should accompany every application. It should be noted that tickets will not be issued. As numbers are limited, it is advisable to submit applications in good time and certainly before the cut- off date of 1st July 1981, to RAOC Secretariat, Deep- cut, Camberley, Surrey GU16 6RW. 396 — |
| Book number | R0404a |