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[KAS2A]

Has anyone been (or is) a member of COVES: Coulsdon Old Vehicle Engineering Society?  If so, please get in touch!

[w3526602]

Hi KAS,

I used to live in Cromwell Road, Caterham, but the if I climbed over the wall at the end of the cul-de-sac (steps provided), I would be in Coulsdon Woods ... about 20 yards.

When I was in the Air Cadets, we would cycle to Kenley Aerodrome, early Sunday mornings, beg a couple of circuits and a bump. One day, me and a mate were first in the queue. A Flt Lt came out, told the first two to sign the book, and climb into an Anson ... no other flights today, so everybody else could go home.

So we were sitting there,when an Air Vice Marshall climbed in, handed us an OS map, said he wanted to know where we were when we landed.  Er ... Kenley?

Wrong! RAF Marham, followed by Scampton, and a couple of other stations that I can't remember. We assumed he was having G&Ts with his mates in the Officers Messes. We were allowed to wander round the hangers, climb into the aircraft, after being warned about ejector seats.

I missed breakfast,  got home in time for my evening meal. Mum asked where I'd been ... "Oh, near Kings Lynn"! She had already learned not to enquire too deeply ... although a couple or three years later, she did ask ... Middlesborough! She had already learned to recognise when she was a loser. South Croydon to Middlesborough was about 240 miles, hitching. November, blazer and flannels, no money.  I got home in time for my evening meal ... the following day.

602

[KAS2A]

Hi 602,

That's a fantastic story, very much of its time and unlikely to be repeated in any Air Cadet Sqn nowadays.  The Anson is a fine looking aircraft.

Thanks for sharing.

[w3526602]

Hi Kaz,

My first flight was in a Tiger Moth (bi-plane), wearing goggles and sitting on a parachute. My Arts teacher was a member of the Flying Club on Croydon Aerodrome.

My most memorable flight was in an RAF VIP Comet ... RAF Lynham to Cyprus, then on to Aden. I can't remember what took me from Aden to Sharjah (near Dubai). Twelve months later, I boarded  a Beverly (sp?) for the return trip home. Take off was delayed, as the civilian workmen had dug a ditch between the aircraft and the runway, to lay a power cable. Bump, bump. I changed at Kuwait ... onto a Britannia turbo-prop ... of no interest what-so-ever.

Some years later, Barbara was sitting on the Swansea to Paddington train, when a little old lady commented ... "I'm surprised your mother lets you travel alone!".

"I'm flying out to Malaya tomorrow ... to join my husband!"

I'd warned her about the need for cotton knickers ..... but hadn't mentioned that there would be "chit-chats" (Geckos) walking across the bedroom ceiling.  She ... and the lady she shared a hotel room with ... both had a sleepless night.

Our flight home from Singapore was in a Britannia "troop-ship" (extra row of seats). Twenty-six hours, Barbara five months "great with child". I had to dash into the "ladies" at Istanbul, to tell her her our plane was leaving early ... like ... NOW! Our dog flew home in a QANTAS 707 ... £700 in 1967. Followed by 6 months quarantine.

602

PS, I've also flown in a Puss Moth  (like a Tiger Moth, but without the lower wing), Proctor, Oxford (built by Nevil Schute), and a Fokker Friendship, from Penang to Singapore.

There was a completely forgettable flight from Stanstead to Dinan, and back, in a Boeing thing with two jet engines ... I can't remember the model number. Very cramped.

602