Captain & the chimneys
The Captain – and the chimneys Bev Pook recalls a flight from Shoreham in 1988 with American friend, Dick Meyers…
B
ack in the 1980s, I owned a 1/8 share in a de Havilland DHC1 Chipmunk. On one particularly nice sunny day, I was visited by a very good friend of mine, Dick Meyers. The date, to be exact, was 16 July 1988, according to my flying logbook. We decided to take advantage of the weather and pull Chipmunk, G-BBMW, out of the hangar at Shoreham Airport and go flying. Captain Dick Meyers hailed from the USA and was a very experienced pilot – he was a captain for American Transair, flying its Boeing 757 fleet. Due to Dick’s experience, plus the fact that I was current in both the front and rear seats of the Chipmunk, I elected to take the rear cockpit and allow him to sit in the front, P1 position. The Chipmunk has dual controls and can be easily flown from both seats. We departed Shoreham on Runway 21 and, after climbing out, we turned left to fly along the coast on the seaward side towards the east, a route that took us past Shoreham Power Station B and its two prominent chimneys, which served for many years as a useful landmark for the purposes of nautical and aviation navigators. On many occasions, the chimneys offered me a great visual aid when flying, indeed I remember my qualifying solo cross-country flight in 1976 – the last leg of that triangular route being to leave Goodwood, near Chichester, and fly back to Shoreham. Those two chimneys immediately came into sight and made that a very easy return to complete the test.
58 | LIGHT AVIATION | March 2021
Above Chipmunk G-BBMW in which Bev had a one eighth share. Today it flies from Goodwood. Photo: Bev Pook. Right Old friend, American ATPL, Dick Meyers who enjoyed that day’s adventures. Photo: Bev Pook. Below Cornish Farm landing strip near Beach Head, where Bev and Dick landed for tea and cake. Photo: Courtesy Google maps.
