FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1342.PDF
••' -* ^ The square at ancient Pamplona, capital of Navarra, during the annual fiesta of San Fermin. Essent/a/s ore practice and the ability to swaMow with one's mouth open. The author pauses after a trial swig of iced lemon juice. INTRODUCTION TO SPAIN .... our first experience of the elastic momento. Food and drinks were hospitably provided as we waited for passports to be returned and transport to prepare to depart for the city, and we seized the opportunity to examine the con- tents of the large white envelopes with which all had been presented. Neatly printed on an envelope was the owner's name and each aircraft (type and registration indicated) also received an envelope. In the personal envelopes were our Rally The route followed during the seven days of the Spanish rally. L£ TOUOUET > Bloodstains bear witness to many killings in the Pamplona bull-ring during the week's festivities. invitations for the week, programmes, a list of Rally- visitors and their hotels at each centre, luggage labels (aho printed with names and hotels) and name discs to be worn . in the button-hole, attached by ribbon in the colours of the Spanish flag. Things could not have been better arranged. The hosts of this large international gathering, over 300 strong, were the Royal Aero Club of Spain and its charming, generous, and always helpful president. His Excellency the Duke of Almodovar del Rio. We eventually arrived very tired and hot at our hotel, and were glad to find ourselves among the lucky ones in having water and light in our rooms. Most hotel bed- rooms have bathrooms and electric light, but because, we understood, Spain is experiencing a severe drought (of 21 months' duration in some parts) water and power are frequently cut off. That first evening, Monday, July 4th, dinner was served in delightful surroundings at the El Cortijo Restaurant on the outskirts of the city. Most visitors soon forgot that the meal was starting at past midnight, as seems to be the custom in Spain, and tucked in with gusto. The hosts were the Duke of Almodovar del Rio and Senor D. Luis Fernandez Pilon Alarcon, president of the Barcelona Aero Club. We all returned that night to find a case of wines awaiting us in our rooms, but decided to leave the problem of what to do with such a tempting but weighty offering for solution after ari hour or two of sleep. J transpired that the cases were delivered in connection with the wine- tasting competition scheduled for later in the week. The bottles were numbered but unlabelled and the idea was to drink them and associate the number with a particular taste in one's mind. Later the tastes had to be recognized after sampling bottles carrying their proper labels, and the names placed against the appropriate numbers on the competition form. We felt unable even to sip a number of sherries at 8 a.m. after the previous night's entertain- ment, so as the Gemini could not be expected to carry the The wings of the Ju 52 which forms a background to Geminis and Noricrin, provided a shady " office " for the Pamplona reception nittee and bull-fight ticket bureau for Rallyists.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
