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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 0497.PDF
FEBRUARY 15, 1940 COMMERCIAL AVIATION OTHER NATIONS CARRY CN : An aerial view of Schiphol, Amsterdam's airport. Here aircraft of many nations meet inpeacetime. Nowadays the British colours and registrations markings are not seen there. EVERYTHING IN THE GARDEN , A. Viator Does Some Moving ONE of these days we shall get a spot of stark commonsense into the censorship business. Last week, forexample, we had to move away from Shoreham owing to the state of the aerodrome—sea gulls and water fowl holding regattas on the surface, and porpoises gam- bolling around on almost-submerged machines in the deeper reaches; crews rescued by local lifeboats, and sharks nibbling the toes of the gumbobts of those brave souls who walked or swam around testing the surface. But it was not weather which put us ..out of action. Oh, no. .^ But anyway when we moved we did so with the utmost secrecy to an airport the name of which we utterly refused to mention to a single soul, and as for the Press we would rather have been cooked alive on a silver grill or boiled to death in Hythe punch. In case you don't know, this is a liquor with a kick from an infuriated mule, with spiked shoes on, in every spoonful. Before we left we warned our wives on no account to mention where we were going, even to the milkman, be- cause there were rumours of the death penalty for idle gossip about important matters at the back door; for who knew that the garbage tin might not contain a Nazi spy in his element, as you might say. ( So nobody breathed a whisper, and then in Saturday s daily papers 'Ole Man Reuter of the Hague blew the gaff, although no pressman in this country was allowed to men- tion that we were moving to Lympne, near Hythe, Kent. Reuter, the antithesis of the Tar Baby, spilled a hatful as follows: " The Hague, Friday. Dutch air liners bound for Lympne, Kent, were ordered by the British authorities to return to Schiphol, their Dutch "airport, as they neared the English coast to-day. No reason has been given.—Reuter. But he was wrong, because both K.L.M. and Sabena had to order planes to return for .reasons.connected with the absence of blue sky, sunshine, carolling larks and exces- sive clarity of vision—but not, of course, for weather con- ditions. No Suh! .-.'.__ What seems to happen, and has happened frequently, is that the censorship (a somewhat rudderless barque) stops up every cranny and loophole except the stable door, out of which, with a hoarse laugh and a whisk of the tail, the quadruped wanders. Well, heck! Here's me scared to record that Admiral Sir Mellowing Rumration is playing golf at Bloody Fore- land (so called because despite frenzied yells of "Fore," a sub-lieut. once smote a Rear Admiral on the beak with an unerring golf ball)—So what? - But anyway, we did not do so badly at Lympne, nr. Hythe, Kent, and everyone there did all he could for us, especially Mr. Dupe. I shall not soon forget a glass, of "inilk Mr. Dupe induced me to drink when I was about-frozen to death. The cow that gave that milk had the right idea and was probably the wife of that powerful creature' the original Bull of Bashan, father of the Golden Calf. It was golden milk, believe me. And now, if I'm not betraying any official secrets, I am going to slip one past 'Ole Man Reuter and announce that we are back at Shoreham, with a nice dry surface and everything in the garden lovely. A. VIATOR.
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