Around The World @ 90 Kts

[India Four Two]

Day 14: 1997-06-02

ATW Retro-blog: 1997-06-02 (Day#14)

Beds like hammocks and back aches to prove it. Only Ced Hughes had the courage (or was it necessity) to use the loo and was un-hesitatingly awarded the SSM (Siberian **** Medal) by the rest of the team. Boys will be boys!!

With rain, overcast and 30 kt winds along the whole route to Kemerovo, the team abandoned plans to fly away from the hotel and instead tasked Yuri with finding other, acceptable, accommodation, which he did, though the establishment had every appearance of being a mix of ‘health club, old people’s home and brothel’. That didn’t stop the team from enjoying the sauna and dining in sumptuous surroundings, though the fare didn’t quite come up to the standards of the décor.

Their night was disturbed by mysterious ‘comings and goings’ in adjacent rooms.

[As often happens on non-flying days, people start telling stories, so let me share this with you.

The original idea for a Chipmunk Golden Jubilee flight wasn’t to go around the world in the Northern hemisphere. In fact, a flight to Australia was suggested and approval sought from ‘higher authority’. This idea was rejected out of hand on the grounds that the route to the southern hemisphere had little connection with the history and development of the Chipmunk. Whilst essentially true, notwithstanding a few ‘ag-truck’ conversions, the Aussies (and yes, the Kiwis too, Bevan et al.) have taken the Chipmunk to heart, even though it never served with their armed forces. And so the plan for Exercise Northern Venture was developed instead. One wonders (well, at least I do) how different might have been the fate of WP833 and WP962, had that ‘Expedition Austral Venture’ been approved. I guess it isn’t too late, and the adventurers would follow (assuming they launched from the UK) many a de Havilland before them. I suggest the launch point be Mildenhall ... maybe Mondelez would sponsor it, for old times' sake. But right now I’m just hangar flying. :-) ]




Flight planning at Omsk, with an ‘official’. Hopefully, getting out tomorrow.