FLIGFIT TO ADVENTURE (Part r)

By Brian

A photographic expedition of six weeks, fl. planned by two friends and I, seemed a formidable proposition.

We were to attempt to fly by single engined Auster aircraft, over fifteen thousand miles of the African Continent. Certainly a much greater, and a more hazardous flight than the author had made to Morocco in a similar aircraft a year before.

Two of us were pilots and the third member a photographer, who was to keep a record of our journey on cinefilm, interspersed with still shots when something of unusual interest presented itself.

The organisation and planning time for the trip took four months, as there were many complicated and lengthy diplomatic clearances, plus the arrangement of special fuel supplies necessary from the aeronautical authorities in the twenty-three different countries, federations and protectorates we were to pass through.

Much of the immediate time preceding our

McAllister

departure was taken up with the buying of special survival equipment. Our journey was to take us through many varying terrains, from the Western Sahara desert, to the bush and jungle of West Africa to the barren wastes of the Sudan, and the tall austere mountains of Uganda and Kenya, returning to England through the blistering heat of the Nile Valley and North African deserts.

BURST TYRE ON TAKE OFF.

Our departure from England seemed dogged by ill luck, for we burst a tyre on take-off at Coventry, from where we were to fly to Birmingham Airport for Customs clearance out to France.

The tyre was repaired, but our aircraft encountered further damage on landing at Birmingham, where our port wheel seized and threw the aircraft off the runway to the left, despite my efforts to the contrary, twisting the fuselage, and braking a spar in the starboard wing, also ripping the tail wheel from its mounting.

We discovered on inspection of the aircraft, that our accident had probably been due to faulty mainterrance, and this was confirmed in the engineer's report we received. We were certainly lucky to be alive.

At this point we thought our expedition was ended, as the engineer informed us it would be many weeks before the aircraft could be made flyable.

Fortunately we were abie to obtain a similar airqaft after several days of negotiations, and finally started our flight without further mishap, eight days behind schedule.

We arrived at Le Touquet on the French Channel coast in the late afternoon, after a delayed take off of several hours in the morning at Birmingham, due to mist.

Our journey through France was uneventful and pleasant, with the weather for once staying bright and sunny, a hopeful prelude of the summer to come.

SEVERE TURBULENCE.

We arrived at Barcelona on the morning of the fourth day in bright sunshine, with a warm breeze blowing off the Mediterranean. After consulting the meteorological officer, we discovered that it would be inadvisable to fly any further that day, due to severe turbulence further down the coast, very dangerous for a small light aircraft such as ours. We decided to spend the rest of that day and night in Barcelona, and make an early start the following morning, when we were assured conditions would be favourable.

Our hotel was very comfortable, and conveniently near the city centre, so we were able to sally forth in the early evening, and taste the delights of Spanish cooking in the form of fried squid, frankfurters with warm, freshly baked bread batches, flnishing with fruit and cream. Barcelona to me always seems a hive of activity, for of course it attracts many tourists. The rest of the evening we spent sipping beer, sitting at an outside table at one of the many bistros, enjoying the warm evening and listening to the excitable flowing language which is so characteristic of the Spanish.

Our destination the following day was Malaga in southern Spain, with a refueling stop at Alicante. At seven thousand feet, our cruising altitude, the sun stillfelt extremely hot, but we didn't seem to notice this very much, for the scenery was magnificent, with the blue Mediterranean on our left, and the snow capped mountain ranges of Spain on our right, some reaching to eleven thousand feet. Our arrival in Malaga was without incident, and we spent the night at a small hotel near the beach at Torre Molinos, a sma1l village just outside Malaga.

When we cleared Customs the following morning outbound for Casablatca, the customs official became very excited when he discovered my revolver, for he said that it was illegal for anyone, save the police and military personnel, to carry firearms in Spain. They also questioned the amount of cine fllmwe were carrying, as we had two brief cases full of one hundred foot reels. It was a relief when we became airborne for Casablanca.

Popular Flying, November- December, 1961,

DESERT SURVIVAL.

Casablanca Cazes airport is large and modern, and a main routing stop for akctaft from all over Africa and Europe. It was here that ourdesert survival equipment was checked and the specially issued desert crossing clearance forms stamped. These extremely necessary and important forrnalities are usually carried out at Agadir, but due to the earthquake disaster some month earlier, only emergency services were in operation there.

To be continued.

PLANS foT ULTRA LIGHT AIRCRAFT

SINGLE SEAT

HM 290

Jurca MJ2

Fauvel

TWO SEAT Maranda

Piel Emeraud and others also sailplanes

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