MG Car Club of South Australia
FLAMBOYANT FLYING
From..Jeanette Walsingham-Meath
T
urning 65 doesn't happen very of-
ten, in fact only once in a lifetime.
So... how does one celebrate to mark
this milestone occasion?
Well I've always wanted to fly in a vin-
tage Tiger Moth, so that's it.
My friend Sandy also had a significant
birthday, so why not celebrate together?
Very early one Sunday morning Sandy
and I set off to Goolwa to rendezvous
with Don Walker in his 1946 TC and Pe-
ter Shipside with Vickie in their 1955
TF1500.
Nice weather to set off, albeit extremely
windy, but coming down Willunga hill
towards Aldinga Airstrip the weather
looked anything but welcoming, espe-
cially for flying vintage bi-planes.
Our estimated take off time of 11 am
looked rather doomed, but then, as luck
would have it, a break in the weather.
So off we go.
Oh, I forgot, I told Don that he too will be
coming with us, his face was something
to behold, not too sure if it was terror or
excitement that came to the fore, per-
haps a combination of each.
I requested the 1939 built tiger Moth,
Sandy the 1946 Stearman and Don was
treated to the fairly 'new' Great Lakes
What I didn't tell Don was that the Great
Lakes is fully aerobatic and like a For-
mula 1 car in the air!
The strong head wind allowed us to take
off after only a very short distance on
the grass strip, then off into the
wild...grey... yonder.
But lo, the skies cleared enough for us
to do spectacular formation
flying in various poses, left, V formation,
right V formation and line
abreast, or something like that.
Meanwhile Don had gone off for, unbe-
known to him, a spot of aerobatics over
Maslin Beach.
Safely back on the ground and I can't
wait for the next episode,
whilst this time it will be 'moir' in the
Great Lakes with aerobatics unlimited!
Now, where was that Hispano Suiza??
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