Bit of drift; mid-June 1971,as a TP at AAEE,FTE comes in and says we go to France tomorrow,so off to HR,jump on AF727 to Perpignan,jump into Renault16 and drive to Saillagouse,grass airfield,ALAT Training base for mountain flying..
CEV/Aerospatiale are conducting high altitude handling/landing tests on a prototype `Gazelle`,so spend next 2-3 days flying around Andorra/Spain/ Pyrenees doing high altitude t/o/landings.Also remember driving into Andorra one night to a bar,and then having to crawl back down again in thick cloud/fog.French say,tomorrow we go home`-au-revoir`,and disappear off to Marignane...So,back to Perpignan ,sorreeM`sur,no flights,all full,`c`est les vacances`-no flights only Paris on Monday...We`ll drive..change car to Peugeot cabriole as it`s very hot.drie across Massif,eating lots of cherries,plums, vino collapso,mix it with a French cycle race at some point and eventually arrive in Paris.Catch AF Caravelle home ,looking as dark as the cherries....
Just to the N of SGS is Font-Romeu,a large tower,covered in mirrors,for some kind of solar power station.,or was then..
Should really have recognised it...