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The Contractor~Part 3

20 Jan

A Slice of Life 

Bill Lites

 

They say, “All good things must come to an end.” Well, things moved along very well for our little construction business, for a couple of years, until 1981. By that time, our little construction company had expanded into building mostly custom homes and duplexes. We had just finished a new “Spec” home and were in the middle of one of those duplex projects. Wouldn’t you know it, that was the year when the Prime Interest Rate rose to an all-time high of 21% and people couldn’t afford the loans to buy a new home.

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The rise in interest rates happened so fast that we got caught with that one unsold home. In addition to that, the person who had contracted with us to buy the duplex we were building defaulted on his contract with us, and then sued us when we refused to give him his deposit back. This law-suit action unnerved Ivan and Dora and they closed the “Company Bank” on any further building projects. We finally sold the one remaining home, but it took a full year to settle the law-suit over the duplex contract. After the law-suit was settled (in our favor) we were able to sell the duplex, so we didn’t lose any money on either of these projects. But, the days of our little construction company were numbered.

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I continued to work with my contractor friend part-time on a few of his projects until 1984, when LMSC called me back to work on their improved Trident II submarine missile flat pad development program. This job required my full attention on the day shift, with additional hours of over-time, which pretty much curtailed any building contracting work. The Trident II program operated from the brand new Launch Complex 46 facility on the Cape Canaveral AFS. The four-year development program went very fast and ended for me in 1989.

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This time, LMSC offered me a transfer to the Lockheed Space Operations Co. (LSOC), a subsidiary created to operate the Space Shuttle processing program at the KSC, or be laid off with most of the rest of the test organization. Since I didn’t have any prospects for a job with any of the other aerospace companies I had worked for, I chose the transfer. I ended up working on Launch Complex 39 A/B for an ex-Douglas engineer, and friend, who I had interfaced with on the Apollo/ Saturn V moon rocket, way back in 1965, when I was working for North American Aviation. I finished out my 35-year Aerospace career with LSOC helping process Space Shuttle launches and many of its California landing recoveries until 1996 when I retired.

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I had kept my Contractors licenses current, all these years, with the hopes that I could go back to building houses after I retired. However, now land values had gone sky high and availability was almost non-existent. Someone has said that you have to let something you love go before you can get it back. My dream of being “The Contractor” was great but short lived, and it took me many years to get over that desire. But, I finally had to let it go, as the violent ups and downs of the new home market never gave me a decent opportunity to get that dream back. I now had to look for other challenges, such as hobbies, travel and writing, to occupy my retirement time. I’ve done that, and after 20 years, I am still enjoying every minute of my retirement life. I can defiantly recommend retirement. Try it as early as you can. I think you will like it.

Bill

 

 

—–The End—–

 

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The Contractor~Part 2

13 Jan

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

Bill Cross Plane

That program was conducted from Launch Complex 25C/D on the Cape Canaveral AFS and ended in 1979 when I was laid off with most of the rest of the test organization. It was during this time that I had taken and passed the General Contractors test and received my license. Once I obtained my license, I began working part-time with my contractor friend on some of his new house projects.   Luckily, it wasn’t long after Lockheed had laid me off that MacDonald Douglas Aircraft Co. (MDAC) found an opening for my talents, on the night shift, supporting their Delta II program. At that time the Delta II program was being used by NASA and the U. S. military to place their satellites into Earth orbit from Launch Complex 17A/B located on the Cape Canaveral AFS. The night shift job with MDAC allowed me to start a small contracting business of my own, making for some pretty long days.

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My part-time construction company was a family affair. I was President and the main go-fer; DiVoran was Vice-President and the company’s new house interior decorator; while DiVoran’s father and mother, Ivan and Dora, acted as the company bank. We all worked very well together at this little construction business.

2

We would buy one residential building lot at a time. Then, using sub-contractors, we would clear the lot and build a 1500 sq. ft. 3-bedroom, 2-bath, concrete block home with a 2-car garage on speculation. The housing market was good and if the house sold before we finished it (which sometimes happened) the buyers could choose their finish trim, paint colors, carpets, cabinet styles and appliances. Prospective buyers had an allowance for these items, and if they wanted more expensive items, they would pay for any added expense over the allowance.

Typical Cross Section of Concrete Block Construction

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We could complete a house in approximately 3 months, which allowed us to (theoretically) turn our investment over with a 10% profit with the sale of each home. In spite of the long hours, I loved this job and was gearing up to do it full-time as soon as my job with MDAC was over. In addition to “Spec” houses, as word got around that our homes were well built and available, we began receiving orders for custom houses that we would build on the owner’s property. Those contracts turned out to be the most troublesome, as it was fairly common for the owners to change their minds about certain aspects of the building process at some of the most inopportune times.

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A typical day during this time was; up at 7:00 am, breakfast with DiVoran and the kids, then I was on my way to the current job site. I would put in as many hours as I could on a job site coordinating sub-contractor activities or meeting with potential home owners and bank Loan Officers. Then there were always the multiple runs to the local lumber yard to pick up that extra box of nails, another sheet of plywood or another dozen 2”x4” studs to keep the job moving forward.

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Depending on the weather and the progress of the job, the sub-contractors would usually shut down their work day around 3:00 in the afternoon. This allowed me to make it to Launch Complex 17 on the Cape by 4:00 to start my 8-hour shift. After surveying the work schedule and any work related items, and if things in the office was not too busy, I could sometimes get in a phone call or two before it got too late. Good thing I was young and indestructible, as this routine didn’t allow a lot of time for sleeping. Luckily, by the time I got home at 12:30 am, I was really tired and had no trouble going right to sleep. This routine was also very hard on the family life. Breakfast time with DiVoran and the kids before they went to school, and occasionally (if I could manage it) for a short time after they got home from school, was about all the family saw of me, except for weekends.

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—–To Be Continued—–

 

 

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The Contractor~Part 1

6 Jan

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill Rocket Plane

 

Unknown to most Americans; when Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the moon in July of 1969, the “Space Race” was essentially over. The U.S. continued to send men to the moon until 1972, but the Apollo manned lunar landing program was spinning down all the while.

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By the time the Apollo 11 astronauts returned to earth, construction of most of the hardware for the rest to that program had already been started, completed or cancelled. Layoffs of hundreds of thousands of contractor personnel across the country began, and those layoffs included thousands of contractor personnel at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) where I worked. In one respect, I was fortunate to be in one of the final waves of contractor personnel laid off after the launch of the Skylab and its 3 astronaut replacement missions.

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In 1973 Rockwell International (RI) gave me the opportunity to return to the North American Aviation (NAA) plant in California (my point of origin) or be laid off. I had no prospects of a job at the home plant, and the cost of living there was twice what it was here in Florida.   We would have to virtually give our house away as the bottom had dropped out of the housing market, and we didn’t have the money for a down payment of any kind on a house there. On top of all that, DiVoran had let me know, in no uncertain terms, that she hated Los Angeles (we had spent 8 years there while I was going to college) and if I took the transfer back to the home plant, I would be making the trip alone!

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The problem with taking the lay-off was that by 1973 so many people had been laid off from the KSC that literally all the jobs in the central Florida area had been taken. A person couldn’t even get a job pumping gas at the local gas station, and Wal-Mart wasn’t here yet. I flooded the area with resumes to no avail. Sometime after my 16 weeks (as I remember) of unemployment benefits ran out, a friend who was a building contractor, helped me get a job with his rough carpenter as a laborer at minimum wage. This was a miracle job, because by then our family was trying to survive on food stamps, and any job was a gift from God. That was a really hard job for this ex-engineer who had spent the last 8 years mostly writing hardware installation procedures for the space program and overseeing their implementation (essentially a desk job).

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Then one day at church a friend, who was an electrician and owned his own small electrical business, offered me a job working for him as an “Apprentice’s Helper.” This was another minimum wage job, but at least it had the potential of higher wages if and when the company won a government related contract. I spent the next two years following George around trying to learn the electrical trade. This actually consisted of being his go-fer, digging a lot of ditches and building a lot of shelves in his warehouse/office to support his expanding business inventory.

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In 1975 George’s business had dropped off to the point that he had to lay me off. My contractor friend had suggested that with my mechanical engineering degree, and letters of recommendation confirming my two years’ experience in the construction field (even though it was at menial jobs) from the companies I had worked for, he thought I would qualify to apply for my General Contractors License. I studied, took the required classes and applied to take the state Contractors test. While I waited for the test to be given in my area, our family took the opportunity to take a camping trip to visit friends and relatives (see “Our Trip Across America” blog-10/10/2012). It was just about this time that one of my resumes found its way to the Lockheed Missiles & Space Co. (LMSC) and they hired me to work on their Trident I submarine missile flat pad development program. What a marvelous answer to prayer that was. 

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—–To be Continued—–

 

 

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My Friend Ray Part 2

30 Dec

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

Bill Cross Plane

 

As the word spread, and Ray’s air conditioning business increased, it wasn’t long before he had to start hiring help to keep up with all the work. At one point he had 5 trucks and 5 people working for him. Things were going really well for Ray, and as a matter of fact, during one year, Ray says he made more money with his sideline air conditioning business than he did working full-time for Leaver Bros.

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One of Ray’s employees approached him one day and mentioned that the owner of the Friggitt Lounge had an air condition system that needed repair and wanted to know if Ray was interested in the job. When Ray inspected the A/C unit, he discovered that it had (what appeared to be a bullet hole) in it. He took the job and repaired the unit, after which he and the owner, Joe, became good friends. Things were going well with the Friggitt Lounge and sometime about 1970 Joe asked Ray if he would like to be a partner in the lounge. Ray knew a good deal when he saw one, and bought 1/2 interest in the lounge. Business just got better and better.

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Then one day (sometime later) out of the clear blue sky, the local Mafia paid the bartender a visit. They informed him, that from then on their protection fee would be $1200 each week. When the bar tender told Joe and Ray about the Mafia visit, Joe said he wasn’t going to bow down to that kind of extortion, and that they could kiss his behind before he paid them one red cent. Ray tried to tell Joe that these were bad people and that he shouldn’t try to fight them, but Joe wouldn’t listen. Ray finally told him that he didn’t want to get involved with those people and wanted Joe to buy back his share of the business. Joe agreed to honor Ray’s request and just that quick Ray was out of the lounge business.

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Ray continued to work at Leaver Bros. and his sideline A/C business. According to him, it wasn’t 3 months later that the Friggitt Lounge became one of many businesses in the area that burned to the ground. That fire made Ray wonder if that original bullet hole in the Friggett Lounge A/C unit might have been the first warning that his friend Joe had received from the Mafia about his refusal to pay their weekly protection fees.

4

After about 3 years, one of Ray’s original A/C customers, seeing how prosperous Ray’s Air Conditioning business was, approached Ray, telling him how he had always wanted to own a business of his own.   He asked Ray if he would be interested in selling his business. After some consideration, Ray quoted him a price and the man agreed to Ray’s terms, and the deal was done. (Keep in mind Ray has been doing all this while working full-time with Leaver Bros.)

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Some people have the most interesting life stories. Ray is one of those people, and I consider it a privileged to have him as a friend. If you have liked this story, stay tuned for more interesting blog stories to come, in the near future, about

“My Friend Ray.”

 

The End

 

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My Friend Ray~Part 1

23 Dec

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill Small Red Plane

 

One day in the mid-1960s, while Ray was at work, his daughter decided to clean their refrigerator and get rid of the ice in the freezing compartment. The only problem with this good-will gesture was that she used a knife to break up the ice in the freezing compartment, puncturing holes in it. When she finished her task, the refrigerator wouldn’t cool. When Ray got home from work that evening, she told him what she had done and that she couldn’t understand why the refrigerator wouldn’t cool. It didn’t take Ray long to discover the problem. But now, what to do? He called the Hussman’s refrigeration parts store to see how much a replacement freezing unit would cost and was told $100 + $50 for a service call to have it installed. Well, in those days a person could buy a new refrigerator for around $200. Ray figured he could repair the unit himself for less than that. He went to the local salvage yard and found a refrigerator similar to his and of the same make and asked the man how much he would charge Ray for the freezing unit. The man said, “$2.00, but you have to remove it yourself.” Ray removed the unit, took it home and installed it in his refrigerator. Once he had everything back together, he charged the system with Freon, and his refrigerator worked fine.

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Sometime during this scenario, Ray had told his neighbor what had happened to his refrigerator, but not what he had done to fix the problem. The next time Ray saw his neighbor, he asked Ray, “Did you buy a new refrigerator?” Ray said, “No, I fixed the old one.” Then his neighbor said, “Really, do you think you could fix my window A/C unit?” Ray said, “I don’t know, I can take a look at it.” He took it to his shop, cleaned it up, added some Freon to the unit and it worked fine. When Ray gave the A/C unit back to his neighbor, the man asked, “How much do I owe you?” Ray said, “I’m not going to charge you anything for that.”

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Well, evidently Ray’s neighbor told his friend what a good job Ray had done on his A/C unit, and the next thing Ray knew, the friend showed up at Ray’s house wanting to know if Ray could fix his window A/C unit. You know how word of mouth stories can get around. As could be expected, when people found out there was a reliable and reasonable air conditioning repair man around, it wasn’t long before Ray had more neighborhood air conditioning work than he knew what to do with.

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Then one day Mike, who Ray was buying his air conditioning parts from, asked Ray if he would consider opening an air conditioning dealership to sell Bryant equipment. Ray told him he didn’t have the space for a dealership. Mike told Ray that if he would rent or buy a building, he would set Ray up with a Bryant dealership. Next thing he knew Ray was the owner of the Koolway Refrigeration Company.

 

 

—–To Be Continued—–

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Flying Legends Airshow Part 15

16 Dec

 

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

Day 15 – Wednesday July 15th

 

Did I mention that on Day 2 of this trip (that day that almost did me in) that I had scrapped both passenger side doors of my rental car when I got too close to a metal entry post at a carpark? Well I did, and not even four hours after renting the car. What a bummer! And now I was looking for an auto repair shop to get a damage estimate for Budget and my insurance company. The hotel clerk looked up the name and phone number of a local shop for me. I called (on a pay phone) and asked the owner if he could review the damage and give me a written estimate. He said he could, and gave me his SatNav address. He said his shop was only about 15 minutes from the Europa hotel.

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I gave Greta the SatNav address and headed for his shop. Well, Greta took me to a farm house on a narrow country lane with no repair shop in sight. I put the address in again, and she took me back to the same farmhouse. While I was sitting there trying to decide what to do next, a lady came walking down the lane, and I asked her for directions. She pointed me to the end of the lane, and sure enough there was the shop (about a mile further down the lane). But, it was all locked up! Stress Gummy time.

2

I had assumed the owner was in his shop when I had talked to him, but no, he was on his mobile phone! Now what was I going to do? Just then I spied a call button on the wall next to the shop. I pressed it and a woman answered and told me I had buzzed the private house behind the shop. Ops! I told her I was there to see the owner of the repair shop and she said, “Oh, that’s George.” I told her my problem (she was very nice) and asked her if she would mind calling George for me. She did, and George said he could be at the shop in 15 minutes. He came and gave me a written estimate of the repair work. Then I realized I didn’t have the SatNav for the Budget office (only the phone number). I ask George if he would call them for their SatNav number. He was kind enough to do that, and I was on my way to turn in my rental car.

3

Greta took me to the Budget office at the Arora Hotel, there in Crawley, with no problems. The Budget agent was very nice about the damage to the car. I gave him my insurance paper work/estimate, and he wrote up an incident report for Budget. What a joy it is to work with people like that. They just seem to smooth out all the rough edges of any situation. He even gave me a ride to the Crawley train station.

4

At the train station I bought my ticket to the London-Gatwick Airport and was there (on a Virgin train) at 11:00 to check-in with Virgin Atlantic Airlines for my flight to Orlando, leaving at 1:00 pm.

5

After a 45 minute departure delay at Gatwick (while they loaded some rich collector’s vintage Mercedes automobile onto our plane) we finally took off. Again I enjoyed setting in the upper deck of the Boeing 747-400 (Ruby Tuesday) during the flight back to the U.S. The plane was fuller on the flight back than the flight over and I was not able to recline my seat enough, so I didn’t get much sleep.

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I was glad I had insisted on an upper deck seat since there was less traffic and it was much quieter. Again, I was surprised at how great the beverage and food service on the 9-hour flight was (full course meal and snack).

7

When we arrived in Orlando I didn’t notice, after going thru Customs, our bags were delivered to the “B” side of the airport. DiVoran was waiting for me at the “A” side Arrival pickup area, and it took a while for us to find each other. Thank goodness for cell phones.

8

By then it was almost 8:30 pm and we decided not to go out for dinner as planned, but to go straight home where DiVoran whipped up a delicious ham, cheese and mushroom omelet for us both. Yummm!

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I was very happy to get home, see my lovely wife, sleep in my own bed, and not have to live out of a suitcase for a while. Having to lug that suitcase up and down all those stairs wasn’t any good for my shoulder and knees either!

—–The End—–

 

 

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Flying Legends Airshow Part 14

9 Dec

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

Day 14 – Tuesday July 14th

No English breakfast this morning. The hostess at the Kentmere Guest House was from the Philippines and all she offered for breakfast was cereal and fruit, which was fine with me. I finally gave up the idea of having my day in France on this trip. I was never able to connect with any of the “BlaBlaCar” drivers. That’s a group of private individuals who use their own cars for hire (similar to Uber.com here in the US). I wanted a ride from Dover, through the “Chunnel”, to Calais, France. Then I needed another ride from Calais to Dunkirk, to visit the Memorial Du Souvenir and Musee Portuaire Museums.

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Then the plan was to have lunch at the Le Soubise Café there in Dunkirk. After that I would need a ride from Dunkirk back to Calais, to pick up my return ride from Calais, back thru the “Chunnel”, to Dover. I couldn’t seem to tie all these ride times together to complete my perfect one-day trip. Boo Hoo! But, C’est la guerre!

2

So, I headed for the South Foreland Lighthouse, just north of Folkstone, to get a glimpse and a photo of the White Cliffs of Dover. After I got off the “Upper Road” the route narrowed from a two-lane paved road, to a single lane paved road, to a single lane dirt road, to what looked like a rough goat trail in the middle of the woods. I began to question if Greta was taking me on another one of her wild goose chases. But sure enough, as I rounded the next bend, there was the gate to the lighthouse grounds. What a surprise!

3

The view of the White Cliffs of Dover was not as good as I had expected, since I was standing on top of them and had to look up or down the coast to get a good view of the cliffs. There really wasn’t much of anything else to see, (except for the coastline of France across the English Channel) as the lighthouse was closed to the public that day.

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From there I worked my way west to visit the Shoreham Aviation Museum in the small village of Shoreham. That museum turned out to be at the back of the Lions Tea Room on the main street of the village. The museum was closed so I was unable to see what kind of memorabilia was in the back garden.

5

Next I headed west again to visit the 900 year old Tonbridge Castle located just outside the city of Tonbridge. The castle was very old and very small so I didn’t spend a lot of time there.

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Then it was on to check out the Tunbridge Wells Railway Station Museum in Royal Tunbridge Wells. The station, which was opened in 1846, is located directly on the double-tracked electrified Hastings Line. This museum exhibits a collection of nicely restored 17th and 18th century rolling stock.

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The museum also operates regularly scheduled special steam powered train trips for visitors. There’s the “High Weald Belle” Sunday Luncheon that features a delicious three-course dinner, or you can choose the “Fish & Chips Special” that operates at mid-week lunch times and on selected weekend evenings. It’s been a long time since I was on a steam train, and I wish I would have been there on one of the days they operated rides.

8

Now I headed for Crawley to find the Europa Hotel for my last night’s stay in the UK. Greta took me right to the hotel and check-in went well. However, their Wi-Fi system was down and I wasn’t able to talk to DiVoran on FaceTime that evening.

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As it turned out, I would never have had enough time to make that special trip I wanted to make to France, unless I had been able to connect with all the rides and had started at 8:00 in the morning, and then it might have still been a stretch. Maybe next time.

10

 

—–To Be Continued—–

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Flying Legends Airshow Part 13 (Continued)

2 Dec

 

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

Day 13 – Monday July 13th

The traffic around Victoria Station was terrible and people (from the train) began yelling at the bus driver that they had flights to catch. That didn’t help his disposition one bit! By the time I finally got to the Golden Tours office it was 12:30. A very nice agent at the Golden Tours office was able to locate my reservation on her computer and print me a ticket.

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I asked her if I had to take the train back to Kings Cross to get on one of their tour buses and she said, “No, you can get on the bus right there across the street.” Thank Goodness! As it happened the first bus that came along was the Blue Route, and was one of the routes I needed.

2

However, by now I was so frustrated and tired, and also because my time was running out, I decided to just stay on the bus for the whole route. This would allow me to see the entire city in air-conditioned comfort (did I mention how hot and humid it was there in London) and with an audio explanation of all that I was seeing. This actually worked out rather well.

2

I was able to see all the specific museums I had planned to visit in London (from a distance) and heard all about them. I just didn’t get off and visit inside each of them. However, I did miss the Changing of the Guard. Maybe next time.

Trivia Question: What is the name of the bridge pictured below? The most photographed bridge in London is NOT the “London Bridge” but is actually the “Tower Bridge?”

3

After a tour of the city, in order to get back to Kings Cross for my train ride back to Stevenage, I had to transfer from the Blue Route bus, to a Red Route bus, and finally to the Orange Route bus.

4

I got to the Kings Cross train station at 4:30, only to discover that the next train to Stevenage was not until 5:15.  However, this train was an express train, and it got me there by 5:45.

5

It took me another 15 minutes to walk up the three levels of stairs to the Stevenage station lobby, across and overpass, and then down three levels of stairs to the carpark ticket machine and pay for my parking. As it turned out, paying for my days parking was a breeze. I just put the yellow token into the machine and it displayed how much I owed (really smart machine!). Then I deposited the correct amount (coins of course) and everyone was happy.

6

 

I had planned for this day to go a lot smoother than it did, giving me time after returning from London to visit a couple small aviation museums close to where I would be spending that night. I decided to check them out, even though I knew they would be closed for the day, just to see what they had and to say I had been there. First was the Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial Museum in Ramsgate. This small museum looked like it probably only displayed memorabilia items as there were no airplanes in site.

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While I was in Ramsgate I swung by the RAF Manston History Museum. This museum tells the history of the RAF Manston airbase from its beginning in 1916. I just took a couple photos of their “Gate Guard” (V-1 Buz Bomb) and then headed south.

8

At the Kent Battle of Britain Museum in Folkstone, I couldn’t tell from the street how big this museum was. One of the small museum buildings blocked my view of all but one airplane that might have been behind it or in it.

 

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I was ready to call it a day, and gave Greta the SatNav for the Kentmere Guest House there in Folkstone. She found the guest house with no problem, but it took me another 20 minutes to find a parking place on the street.   Before long I was resting in a very nice room in a comfortable bed. I’d have to call that a day and a half’s worth of frustration all rolled up into 10 hours!!!

10

 

—–To Be Continued—–

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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 13

25 Nov

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

 

 

Day 13 – Monday July 13th

 

I woke to a typical British day; overcast and drizzling rain. There is nothing like a good hot breakfast and a cup of Earl Gray tea to ward off the cold and dampness. It made me glad I was served another hardy English breakfast this morning!

1

I had scheduled most of this day in London visiting many of the historical WWII museums, and of course, viewing the “Changing of the Guard” at Buckingham Palace. When I was planning this trip I decided not to try to drive into London, but to take the train from Stevenage to London and then take an “On & Off” bus tour of the city.

2

This day of frustration started when I discovered I didn’t have enough British pound coins for the parking machine (they only take coins) at the train station. I spent almost two hours trying to find someplace to exchange my money. I wanted to exchange some Euros I had brought with me for British pounds. I finally found a Post Office open and got that done.

2A

 

Once I had parked at the train station, I had to wait for someone to come along to show me how to use the parking ticket machine, (different from all the others I had encountered so far on this trip) only to find out that this carpark payment system used a different “Park & Pay Later” plan. A friendly traveler came along and told me that I should put the yellow token I had received at the entrance barrier into the machine. The machine would give me back my token for use when I returned to the carpark for my car. I thanked her and she said, “Don’t lose that token.”

3

I had reserved my train ticket and bus tour ticket from home but had, for some reason, not printed out my confirmation notices. That wasn’t a problem at the train station, as the clerk just pulled up my reservation on his computer and handed me my “Return” tickets to Kings Cross. I found the correct platform for my train to London and was finally on my way.

4

By this time it was 9:30 and it took another hour for the train ride to London. The Golden Tours website had indicated that I could board the double-decker Golden Tours bus right across the street from the Kings Cross train station. Sure enough, I found the Golden Tours representative at the bus stop. But when I told him I had no confirmation paper, he informed me he could not let me board the bus without a ticket. I asked him to just check my reservation, but he said he couldn’t do that from his portable ticket machine. Stress Gummy time!

5

So, what did I have to do to get a ticket? I had to get on another train and go back to Victoria Station, where their main office was located, and have them look up my reservation and print out my ticket. So, back on another train I went to Victoria Station (which by the way, my train had passed on my way in to Kings Cross). But of course, it couldn’t be that easy could it? For some reason the Victoria Station was now closed and the train went right past it to the next stop. I ask a couple on the train what I could do and they said, “You’ll have to get off the train and catch a bus back to Victoria Station.” And where in the world do I catch the bus? “Ask the Station Master at the exit.” They said.

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That involved several more blocks of walking to find the bus stop. When the right bus came the driver didn’t want to accept my train ticket for the bus ride. I told him the Station Master at the train station had said we (there were about 20 of us with the same problem) could use our train tickets for the bus and that the drivers would be notified by radio. He said he hadn’t heard anything about that. Stress Gummy time again! Luckily there was a very persuasive lady in our group who convinced the driver (on pain of death) to let us on.

7

 

—–To Be Continued—–

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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 12 (Continued)

17 Nov

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

Day 12 – Sunday July 12th

The airshow was so well organized and choreographed that just as one group of aircraft had finished their performance the next group was taking off, so there was very little time in the next 2-1/2 hours that there wasn’t a number of aircraft in the sky to thrill us. After the “Spitfire Tailchase” two F4U Corsairs, a F8F Bearcat and a FM-2 Wildcat took off, formed up, and flew individual high speed passes as well as formation passes over the field.

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Next four Curtis Aircraft; a P-36, a Hawk 75, and two P-40s took off, formed up, and flew individual high speed runs (some as low as 50 feet) and formation passes over the field. In each case their formation flying was so good it was like watching a demonstration team.

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Following that four P-51 Mustang’s took off, formed up, and performed individual high-speed and formation passes over to the field. I was amazed at the formation flying ability the pilots showed with all of these airplanes, which had come from all over the UK. You could tell they had performed together before.

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Next a B-17 Flying Fortress took off, formed up with the four P-51 Mustangs, and made low level formation passes over the field, to represent the thousands of U.S. 8th Air Force bombers and their fighter escorts that were based and flew from the many British air bases during WWII.

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Following the American representation, a German Junkers Ju-52 and three HA-1112-M1Ls (Spanish built Me-109s) took off, formed up, and made low level passes over the field in formation, to represent the hundreds of German bombers and their fighter escorts that fought for Germany throughout WWII.

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Then a Bristol Blenheim I, a Hawker Hurricane and three Supermarine Spitfires took off and made low level passes over the field in formation, to represent the British bombers and their escorts that defended England during WWII. Each of these formation groups was really impressive and gave me goose bumps.

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Next two Gloster Gladiators took off, and performed individual low level high-speed and formation passes over to the field. I was not familiar with the Gladiator and was not aware that Britain had built such a powerful high speed bi-plane toward the end of WWII.

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The Red Bull B-25 Mitchel bomber and P-38 Lightning took off and flew individual and formation high-speed passes over the field. I had never seen a B-25 put into a 90 degree turn like that before. When the pilot would make one of those turns, I kept expecting to see that plane fall out of the sky. But of course it didn’t.

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These formation groups and low level high speed passes (some as low as 50 feet) over the field where continuous until about 4:30 in the afternoon. My mouth was drooling the whole time. I was like a kid in a candy store!

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The grand finale which they called the “Balbo Finale” was what had originally captured me last year, when DiVoran’s brother, had sent me a video “teaser” of the 2014 Flying Legends Airshow. Some 30+ aircraft that had performed for this event took off, formed up, and made several beautiful formation passes over the field. The sound of all those engines flying over at the same time was absolutely magnificent! I don’t think anything has thrilled me like that since I watched the first Apollo/Saturn 5 moon rocket lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in 1967. I was almost moved to tears, the sights and sounds were so wonderful for me.

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Remember Takashi Koreeda from Yokohama Japan, that I mentioned earlier had given me a CD? Well, when I got home and was able to play the CD, it turned out to be a video of the 2015 Paris Airshow he had recorded. What a great gift that was! This 2015 Flying Legends Airshow was so memorable, I think I will order the professional video to keep and refer to anytime in the future when I need a real boost.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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