Could't help but get nostalgic
My first flight in the RAF was in a Hastings flogging around the circuit at Lindholme with a short, knarled master pilot who flew occasionally seated on a cushion or most often, standing at the controls to see over the coaming.
Alternately failing starboard and port engines to the sound of horns, bells and gasps from a young snotty nose in the RHS. The MP had an insane grin and seemed to relish the sweat pouring from the snotty. After that it was a Britannia to El Adem and although the cockpit door stayed open the entire way, it was uneventful.
So when, in '69, Brit XN404 as usual went U/S on the El Adem pan at 9am and I was offered a gash trip back to Brize on Hector, I somewhat apprehensively grabbed my kit and ran. My fears rapidly evaporated as we ambled up to around 15K and trundled along the coast to Benghazi (Mersa Matruh?) and then eventually after hours over the Med to Malta.
The "Greenhouse" windows, two unoccupied Nav seats and bench seating around the cockpit made for a visibly memorable trip. Airborne again from Luqa we again waddled up to the cruise with a Landrover and a pallet in the back and sailed gently all the way up the coast of Italy, with the sights being pointed out by the crew who seemed to be out for a Sunday drive, Sicily, Etna, Naples, Rome. Crossing the coast of France near Nice and then over the Alps, I am sure we must have climbed higher but we were passing mountain peaks at the same altitude as the aircraft.
Finally at around 7 pm dropping into Gutersloh and off to the club for a Pie 'n a Pint.
Airborne again around 9pm for the "short" hop to Brize with a private car and half of the furniture of someone's house in the back, we enjoyed the magnificent sight of London at night, crossing the city just North of Edgware and landing at Brize at some unGodly hour of the night. ('404 had arrived hours earlier.)
Yes, Hector was old, low and slow (14+ hours and two stops) but what a delightful way to travel, many trips on Belfasts, Brits and Alberts to exotic places could never surpass this experience of flying for a 22 Year old, even years later when I became a pilot.
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