Danny takes to the Air.
That evening in the bar, we heard that there might be a possibility of swapping our rail/sea tickets for air ones (there would be no problem about identities in those days, tickets were fully tranferable - if you had one, they didn't care who you were, you got on board). But why would anyone want to do such a thing (after paying £5 extra ?)
At this point I must explain that there seems to be a general impression today that the great British public became all air-minded as soon as the war was over. But this was far from the case. Starting with some unreliable statistics, and making all sorts of unwarranted assumptions, I've come to the conclusion that about 120,000 ex-aircrew came back on the labour market in 1946 (0.3% of the adult British population). These thought no more about getting on a plane than of hopping on a bus.
The other 99.7% were in much the same frame of mind as their parents had been twenty or thirty years before. Hardly any of them had ever flown. "Going Up In an Aeroplane" was still a serious adventure; to be contemplated with anything from mild apprehension to abject terror. Long ago on this thread, Fred (RIP) and I swapped nostalgic Posts about a certain Belgian M. Giroup (oux?) with his old Fox Moth on a pre-war Ainsdale Beach. There M. Giroup. sold three-minute "hops" for 5/- a head (with four packed in the Moth cabin); post-war he was back again (to my surprise) still getting the customers in at ten bob !
The era of Mass Air Travel didn't start till the '60s, and for a long time after that the airlines ran "Fear of Flying" Courses to pull in the faint hearted punters (do they still ?)
It followed that our Air Party contained a number of first time flyers, some of a more nervous disposition than others. One young Army couple had been so petrified by the approach into Cointrin that nothing could induce them to take the flight back (the W/Cdr did say it had been rather hairy, and about this time (IIRC), a Constellation going in there had hit a peak near Mont Blanc)
This was going to be very expensive for them as they would now have to pay their own rail/sea fares back to UK (and how could they organise that with the currency restrictions ?) The air journey was a charter - there would be no refunds.
Now if any of the surface party could be persuaded to do a straight swap........It was the answer to all our prayers. We closed the deal on the spot (we did not offer to refund them the £10, I'm afraid). On the Saturday morning after breakfast, we waved goodbye to the ground party, and had a last, most enjoyable morning on the slopes. After lunch we blew our few remaining francs on coffee and a cinzano or two, then returned all our kit to the hire shops during the afternoon.
At tea we learned with some indignation that next month a party of Sandhurst cadets would be coming out to our hotel. But they would have their holiday fully paid for by the Army - it would cost them nothing - and RAF Transport Command would fly them out to Lyon and back ! (One law for the rich - there were sarcastic references to: "jeunes milords anglaises" and "À bas les aristos" !)
Our coach left promptly after tea for the short road trip to Cointrin. But on arrival, where was the next tranche of eager holidaymakers, waiting to board our bus ? Not a soul ! Something was badly wrong.
Courage, mes braves !
Danny42C
If it ain't one damn' thing, it's another.