Speedbird48
19th Jan 2004, 05:10
Back in the early '70's I had many brushes with the Condor. I flew G-AXGU for many happy hours and many adventures. One was at Redhill when Chris Jesson wanted to come along and at the last minute dumped a dog on the back shelf. All was well until I started the engine and the dog departed over Chris's shoulder and the open door. It ended up stuck up to it's belly as all of it's feet went through the upper fabric but was supported on the, better, underside fabric. Michael Jones had one of his fits over that one although Chris and I fixed it in short order. Chris went on to fly for Dan Air and later BA from Gatwick.
In those days I was a lowley peon with BOAC, on the 707, and I spent my stand-by hours at Redhill to be within the 1 1/2 hour limit for stand-by crews. In that time I delivered many all over the place as they were exchanged when they came up for an inspection. At the time they were all owned by Rollasons and leased, at very cheap rates to many struggling clubs. I bought one back from East Anglia and told the hanger guys that it flew strange and the next day they showed me the broken rear spar!!
My log book shows 'YZT, 'YFH, VMB,'TVW and 'XGT at a quick glance.
Brian.
Not a good co-ordinated airplane but a good trainer never the less and lot of people got started thanks to Norman Jones.
In those days I was a lowley peon with BOAC, on the 707, and I spent my stand-by hours at Redhill to be within the 1 1/2 hour limit for stand-by crews. In that time I delivered many all over the place as they were exchanged when they came up for an inspection. At the time they were all owned by Rollasons and leased, at very cheap rates to many struggling clubs. I bought one back from East Anglia and told the hanger guys that it flew strange and the next day they showed me the broken rear spar!!
My log book shows 'YZT, 'YFH, VMB,'TVW and 'XGT at a quick glance.
Brian.
Not a good co-ordinated airplane but a good trainer never the less and lot of people got started thanks to Norman Jones.