Peter Bitzker

[SA ATCO]

I am trying to track down an old friend from SAAF days. Has anyone any idea where Peter Bitzker is and how I can get hold of him? When I last heard he was somehow involved with the DC4 crew that where forced to land in Angola some years back. If anyone has info I would appreciate it.

[The Guvnor]

Er, well, yes he was slightly more than "involved" with Johnny Pereira's DC4 ... he was the b*st*rd that set them up. Last heard of in the States with rather a lot of EO money.

If you do track him down, please post his contact details here together with those of the British and SA guys flying the L29s - there are a few people that would like a nice quiet chat with them!

What those guys did to Marnix van Eyck and the rest of the guys is absolutely unforgiveable. That was not a "green medicine" or sanctions-busting flight at all - it was purely carrying commercial goods (largely Castle lager as I recall). Marnix had hitched a lift to Charlie Two to pick up a DC3 belonging to Africa Charter Airlines who promptly left him in the lurch and denied all knowledge.

Anybody want any further info contact John Miller at AeroAfrica or Tom Chalmers at World Air News.

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:) Happiness is VR at Lagos! :)

[SA ATCO]

Thanks Guv
I had heard such rumours but could not verify them. It seems that my old buddy has changed somewhat since we last spoke. I know he had family in Cape Town but don't know if they are still there. Pity, we had good times together.

[The Guvnor]

No prob SA Atco ... it must have been a long time since you last knew him becasue I heard he had been doing some scam on Basuruto and taken his girlfriend Charlie for loadsa cash to get his shares in Phoenix Airways so he could be Flight Ops Director there - that's after wiping out the navaids at FALA when taking off way overloaded with one of those EO/Ibis 727-100s!

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:) Happiness is VR at Lagos! :)

[SA ATCO]

Well, well! It seems things have changed. I happen to know Charlie as well as we were ATC's together many years back. In fact, the last time I saw Peter he was running Bazaruto Air Charters and he and Charlie had just started seeing each other. I didn't know about his involvement in Phoenix, or his taking Charlie's bucks. How did he get that right? Oh well, I will chalk this one up to experience! Thanks Guvnor!

[The Guvnor]

Yeah, well I was told by someone that was there that she barged into a Phoenix board meeting and demanded that she be made a director as it was her money that Peter had used to buy the shares with! Richard Gain wasn't too impressed though ... but then he and his brother supposedly 'removed' a couple of hundred million rand through their pyramid operation - Logans/Phoenix and Airline Liaison which traded as Sudan Airways. Remember that one?

On the Bazaruto Air side, I heard that there was some iffy accounting going as well as some shennanigans with a Dak ... but I don't have any direct first hand knowledge to be fair.

I believe Charlie's still up round FALA, running a company making rather decent nomex flight suits ... must order another!

There was a story about a year ago that there was a 'hit' attempt on Peter in Florida, but it turned out that this was a red herring put out by him to duck the guys that were after him. Anyway, the last I heard was that he was in the Arizona area.

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:) Happiness is VR at Lagos! :)