Fox Moth on Ainsdale Beach long, long ago.
Fred,
Nosing about in the old Posts (as one does), I came across your #1500, and it made me "sit up"!
We were 15 more or less together, and we rarely had five bob in our pockets any time except (possibly) Christmas or birthdays. But you must have cashed in your piggybank and entrusted your life to G-AACB and M.Girou(x) ? I hope you enjoyed it - I think they squashed four into the tiny cabin? - and thought it money well spent.
I believe he was of Belgian descent, had flown in WW1, and often wore the old, long, black leather aviators' coat that he had used in those days. It was rumoured that he was as blind as a bat, but the old Moth was like the milkman's horse, and trundled round the circuit by itself by sheer force of habit, without much input from him.
Came the War, and I believe he went back into the RAF, though he would have been well past flying age then - probably a S.Ad.O., or something like that. The Fox Moth went into storage "for the duration" in a barn somewhere round Crossens or Tarleton. There it gathered dust and bird droppings, and a colony of rats gnawed through the wing fabric to establish a snug home therein.
Came the Peace; I came home from the wars to Southport. "Well", I thought, "that's one business whose time has passed. Nobody's going to pay five shillings for a quick turn round the Pleasure Beach any more" How wrong I was! They got out the Moth, dusted it off, evicted the rats, patched up and doped the fabric. Then it was business as usual.
Only difference was: he charged ten bob now! (which more or less was level with inflation). Still the queues built up at his little pay station on the sands. (I suppose the Corporation took a cut). In what we laughingly called the summer, I tried to keep up my Indian tan, stretched out in the Lido. I timed the Moth; it flew round every four minutes exactly, hour after hour. So he grossed £2 every four minutes! Not bad going in 1946.
How long did he keep going? I left in 1948, and he was still at it.
Happy days,
Cheers, Danny.
Last edited by Danny42C; 11th Mar 2012 at 21:23.