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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1808.PDF
CROYDON TO CAPRI ... airborne I circled to reach 2,000ft over the airport and then setout to follow the coastline as far as possible. Three thousand feet kept us just below the four-eighths cloud-base and was sufficientexcept where we cut over headlands, sometimes flying at 4,000ft and going around the clouds. After sighting Rome we enjoyedthe three-and-a-half-hour flight to Pisa, where we established radio contact and made to land on their fine big runway. When wewere about twenty feet up I was surprised to see that the wide runway was made very narrow by a double row of lights a foothigh, which made it imperative to keep straight. After some to-me to-you we touched down very nicely indeed and were met by theinevitable jeep, which led us some distance to the control build- ings. They were very nice about it, but Pisa is a military aero-drome with quite a collection of twin-engined transports, some American; and although Shell was available on the carnet theyadvised us to fly to Florence or Albenga (west of Genoa) for Customs clearance. To divert eastwards to Florence would have meant going outof our way for nearly a hundred miles, so I decided to make for Albenga although the weather men quoted a cloud-base of 1,500ft,with the possibility of thunderstorms. After some light refresh- ment, and a word with the Americans, I paid the six-shillinglanding fee and we were off again. The 140 miles to Albenga was, for me, the most unpleasant part of our flight to date. The cloudcover was pretty solid and the mountain-tops were lost to view. Following the coast necessitated continuous flying just out to seawith not a hope of a landing, except in the water, in an emergency. It is true that we sighted one airfield soon after leaving Pisa (andthe leaning tower, of course) but at times we were forced down to 600ft and I kept a wary eye on the compass in case the weathershould close in on us. (I learned a valuable lesson last year, when hazy conditions off Littlehampton suddenly plunged me into seamist right down to the water. I was following the coast and I made a mental note that in future I would always have a courseto steer in emergency. After two stabs at it at Littlehampton I landed at Ford, where the weather forecast gave nothing below1,500ft—until twenty minutes later, when Shoreham gave 300ft and 400 yd.) Genoa was unmistakable, and since the mountains drop abruptlyinto the sea it was something to see a large town on such a narrow strip of land. Albenga is an easy place to find, for there is anisland big enough to be marked, at the precise little valley leading to the small airport. Pisa had sent word to them and the Customsman was tearing out from the town by taxi. The field offered a very small, ill-kept runway or a deceptively flat-looking grassarea. I chose the latter, and in view of the threatening sky above I felt relieved to be down before the storm. The Customs man was determined to do a job to justify thetaxi fare. He virtually went through our passports with a micro- scope, querying all blanks and alterations of address until we feltquite naked. This cost a pound. They had no petrol on carnet, but we had sufficient to reach my objective of Cannes if the weatherdid not deteriorate. They were most obliging, however, and the weather was apparently improving to the west. After handshakesall round we picked our way to the runway and were off after a bumpy ride.Before setting out immediately over the water I deemed it wiser to gain 1,000ft over the airfield first, a course of action that calledfor steep turns in the basin-like setting. Presently, at 700ft over the sea and a quarter of a mile out, we had a grandstand viewof Monte Carlo, Nice and Cannes. Monaco presented the most enchanting view, although aerodynamically I approved of thefine runway at Nice. We could speak to Cannes Tower, and all was well until I heard that we were fourth to land. A littleresearch pin-pointed two aircraft, and further research brought to Lake Maggiore and Locarno seen from the Messenger at 7,000ft. light a speck on long finals, and another just alighting on the shortmesh landing-strip. They have two runways, and also use the grass strips beside them. I chose the runway, and we had guid-ance-in from the runway car. After six hours' flying I felt satisfied. Hotel accommodation in Cannes had reached the chaotic stage,where large numbers were sleeping on the beaches. Eventually a kind and energetic inhabitant, who spoke little English, took allfour of us in his Citroen some six miles out of the town and billeted us in a new bungalow. Next morning our host—a humandynamo in open-necked shirt and shorts—willingly agreed to drive us to the airport at least seven miles away. At a pound a head fortwo good meals, clean and comfortable accommodation and taxi I thought he had treated us handsomely. He took a great interestin our Messenger and particularly wanted to sit in it, a wish that was easily granted. I made out a flight plan to Lyons with Toussus-le-Noble, nearParis, as alternative. The landing fee took the usual five shillings, with an additional seven shillings for Customs, the latter payableto a dear old gentleman I was most pleased to see again, for the evening before he had cycled up to us in civilian clothes and hadpedalled off with the carnet; it all seemed a little Fred Karno. The weather man had bad news. The Rhone Valley was upsetby thunderstorms and low cloud, and I had to wait three-quarters of an hour for a further met. report to arrive. The spare time wasused in checking the aircraft. Eric looked over the airframe and Bill the instruments (I was most impressed to see him blow downthe A.S.I, and to hear Eric record the passage of a high rate of knots in the cockpit). Norman fiddled with the radio, but I knewhe was batting on a sticky wicket. I had to chase up the petrol man, who had had many calls onhis services. I found him refuelling a Cessna 195 and chatted with the pilot—a Frenchman who spoke no English—in my school-boy French. His machine cruised at 160 m.p.h. and had a ceiling of near 20,000ft. He proudly showed me the three radio setsand radio compass. His radios had a range of nearly eighty miles, and he was flying to Paris over the top, at 15,000ft and inthree hours. Nuff said! I trudged back to our faithful bird deep in thought. The weather man now pointed out that had we gone two hoursearlier it would have been O.K. We were to have a cloud-base of 1,200ft, with perhaps odd thunderstorms and five-eighths cloud.The runway car led us out, a service I thought particularly nice. Our mobile lift carried us aloft into sunshine, and we had apleasant flight to Marseilles at 2,000ft, cutting off the corners where possible, and only once seeing more cloud than we wanted.There were two aerodromes there, and I called up one for a weather check. They were on the ball, and asked me to wait amoment while they obtained later information. Lyons was giving seven miles' visibility and cloud at 1,700ft. We forged on at110 m.p.h., following the Rh6ne, and at times it seemed like standing still. I took great interest in passing over Avignon,complete with Pont. The huge hydro-electric schemes looked very fine, and some were still being constructed. This was thearea for high-speed crack trains, which, I am told, can travel at a light aircraft speed of over a hundred miles an hour. I followedthe path of one keenly, but it must have been the Sunday service. To the east we could see the peaks of the French Alps, and I feltgrateful that our course from now on lay over smaller stuff. We sighted one very good airfield early on; and now Bill, ourback seat wizard at spot-on E.T.A.s, started us looking ahead for Lyons. The sharp bend in the river nearly fooled us. I firstspotted a grass aerodrome with nine gliders floating above it; but we knew that Lyons had runways. With radio contact we droppedin after a three-hour flight and taxied to the imposing control building with its public balcony. To maintain our schedule andreach Croydon that evening it behoved us to press on. It was still very hot, and I felt better for a wash and drink before takingoff in record time, with sandwiches to eat aloft. So far as weather was concerned our way to Le Touquet was quite good; but theypainted a poor picture of London, with rain and eight-eighths cloud at below 1,000ft. To the north of Lyons lies a range of hills 4,000ft high. They
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