Tag Archives: Travel Series

The Cruise of a Lifetime~Part 1

31 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

 

 

PART 1 – GETTING THERE

We had been investigating a Viking River Cruise in Europe for a while, but decided they were just too expensive. However, Fred was able to find a really….REALLY….good deal, and we snatched it up. We were scheduled for November 5 – November 20, 2015.

Our flight was scheduled for departure on Thursday, November 5, at 4:20 p.m., but it was delayed until 5:06 p.m. with mechanical problems. We finally boarded the plane hoping to leave soon. The plane started to back out but the pilot said the engines were doing the same thing they were doing before, so he took it back to the terminal. Fred checked with the Delta people, and they said our connection in Detroit would wait for us.

We were delayed again when we entered the plane and then deplaned a third time.   Fred then checked with the international Delta people and they got us on a Lufthansa leaving for Frankfurt, Germany at about 8:20 p.m. – about 20 minutes from then! That was four hours after we were originally scheduled to leave. They said our flight from Detroit would NOT have waited that long for us. We had been given some really bad information. We were also quite glad we had carried all our luggage with us!

After arriving in Frankfurt on Friday morning, we boarded another Lufthansa to Amsterdam. We finally arrived in Amsterdam about 2:30 p.m. Fortunately, the Viking people were there picking up other late-arriving guests. They thought we had decided to cancel, and just not come. We took a Viking bus to the ship, the Viking Gefjon (pronounced gef’- ee-on) and found our state room, number 325.

 

These ships are called “long ships” for a good reason!

 

After a late lunch buffet in the Aquavit Lounge Terrace,

 

we rested some, then tried to email but had no success with that. They had a computer station, but the laptops were “International” versions, with some of the keys rearranged, and with international symbols that we weren’t accustomed to. It was a bit nerve-wracking to try to type any kind of message!

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We had no time to take in anything in Amsterdam, much to our regret. However, we have been to Amsterdam many times during our times living in Germany, so we didn’t feel too cheated.

The Chef’s Dinner was in the restaurant. There is only one restaurant on board, and all meals are eaten there, and together. Most tables are set for six people, with a few large enough for eight or 10. Our table mates that evening were from Tucson, Arizona, and from Pennsylvania. There was no assigned seating, and we were able to meet quite a few of our fellow shipmates during the cruise. After we had ordered our meal, Fred left the ship and quickly went to a corner store to get some items we couldn’t carry on the airplane.

We went to bed early, as it had been a long day.

Oh and by the way, as I was getting off the last flight in Amsterdam, overloaded with bags, overbalanced and fell getting off the airplane and into the jetway. So far, no lingering effects from that.

 

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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—–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.

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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.

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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?”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!!!

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—–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!

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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!

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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.

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—–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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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 12

11 Nov

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

 

The overcast day made the English breakfast and hot tea at the Abbington Hotel especially welcome, and got me off to an exciting day at the 2015 Flying Legends Airshow at Duxford. The weather report was for clearing by afternoon and I had my fingers crossed that the weatherman would be correct. Because of my reconnoiter of the area the day before, I was able to drive right to the correct parking area, off the A-505, just behind the American Air Museum building.

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As I strolled down the midway I realized I was not going to be able to stand up all day and was going to need a chair. As it happened there were trade tents selling everything a visitor could possibly need for a day at the airshow. I bought a folding chair and set it up right at the front of the tarmac fence, which would give me an unobstructed view of the day’s activities.

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The flight line of some 50+ aircraft was open from 9:00 to 12:00 to allow visitors to stroll down the line and “get up close and personal” with their favorite aircraft. After I photographed all the participating aircraft, I began a stroll thru the seven hangers full of restored aircraft and related memorabilia.

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I started with the American Air Museum in Britain aircraft which had been moved from their usual hanger while it was being renovated. The museum has a great collection of beautifully restored aircraft, but I was a little disappointed that they had to jam them all close together to get them into the Airspace hanger. I could walk thru and see them up close, but it was impossible to get a decent photo of any of them. The aircraft and memorabilia displays in the other six hangers were great and took up the better part of the morning.

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I ask a man at the information desk if he could tell me how many people they estimated attended this event, and he said, “We had nearly 20,000 yesterday, but with this weather the attendance may be down some today.”

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At 12:00 the flight line was cleared of visitors and the two Tiger Moths and two DH-89A Dragon Rapide aircraft, which had been carrying passengers for rides since 9:00, were requested to terminate their flying and several aerobatic performances were put on to open the show.

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I happened to be sitting next to Takashi Koreeda from Yokohama Japan, who was videotaping the event. He informed me that he had recently visited the United States and attended the air show at Chino, California. He was an avid airshow follower and told me that he wanted to visit the U.S. Naval Museum in Pensacola, Florida. We talked a little about museums and airshows and then suddenly he handed me a CD and said, “I just record this last week, you play on your computer.” All I could say was, “Thank you.” I gave him one of our Valiant Air Command Museum brochures and invited him to stop and visit our museum the next time he was he was in Florida.

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At 2:00 The Flying Legends Airshow started with the “Spitfire Tailchase.” This was one of the most spectacular performances I have ever witnessed! Ten Spitfires and one Hurricane took off, in groups of four from the grass field, as so many had done in 1940 during the Battle of Britain. They formed up and passed over the field in one formation. The sound of those 11 Rolls Royce Merlin engines was music to my ears. Then they broke off into three groups and, in trail formation, performed the “Spitfire Tailchase” for the next 10 minutes. I was awed and amazed!

Try to imagine a child with a ribbon on the end of two sticks, one in each hand, making figure “8” motions. This is just what the “Spitfire Tailchase” performance was, except they were passing across the field, weaving in and out and up and down, in a crisscross pattern from four different directions at the same time. It was breathtaking!!! The YouTube video above doesn’t begin to capture the thrill of that performance!

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—–To Be Continued—–

 

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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 11

4 Nov

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

Day 11 – Saturday July 11th

After another wonderful English breakfast at the Elmhurst Hotel, I had planned to visit the Berkshire Aviation Museum there in Reading, but they didn’t open until 10:30 am. Most likely the only airplane, of any special interest to me, at that museum would have been their Miles M.52 Research Aircraft. Designed about the same time as the Bell X-1 rocket plane here in the U.S, an unmanned scaled model of the M.52 reached Mach 1.38 during a test flight in 1948, validating its design configuration.

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I had several museums to visit this day, so I just headed for the Battle of Britain Bunker Museum in Uxbridge. The museum re-creates the underground operations room at RAF Uxbridge, which was used by No. 11 Group Fighter Command during WWII.

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The Royal Air Force Museum located in Hendon was one of the highlights of this trip. This massive museum complex consists of five major buildings and hangars dedicated to the history of Royal Air Force aviation, spanning the time periods from pre-WWI to present day. With over 90 beautifully restored aircraft and some 30+ engine displays, it was a little overwhelming experience to say the least.

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Next on the list was the De Havilland Aircraft Museum in Hertsmere. This was a small museum with only two hangers, but what was in those hangers took my breath away. Three De Havilland DH98 Mosquito twin engine bombers (sometimes called “Wooden Wonders” or “Mossie”) in various stages of restoration. I had read that several Mosquito bombers were being restored to flying condition in different parts of the world, but didn’t know about these three examples. It’s one of my dreams to one day see one of these wonderful machines fly at an airshow.

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Heading northeast again, next I visited the North Weald Airfield Museum in Epping. This is another case of a memorial to the history of a WWII fighter base whose planes and pilots were so instrumental in England’s struggle that came to be known as “The Battle of Britain.” The only thing remaining of the original air base is a small Control Tower and a Hurricane fighter “Gate Guard.”

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I had planned to visit the American Air Museum in Britain, which is part of the Imperial War Museum (IWM) in Duxford to check out the museum, as well as the parking arrangements for the Flying Legends Airshow, that was being held there. That plan worked out fairly well as far as locating the correct parking area was concerned. However, security was very tight, and I was not allowed to actually park to check out the museum.

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The American Air Museum in Britain (I am a founding member) is a memorial to the American flyers of the U.S. Army 8th Air Force who lost their lives fighting for freedom during WWII. I was excited about visiting this museum, which I had not visited since our trip to England in 1991.

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As it turned out, the museum building was in a state of renovation, and all their planes had been moved to another hanger at the far end of the airfield grounds. Heading south on the A-505, on my way to the hotel for the evening, I stopped to watch the “Finale” of the airshow from the road. Even from that distance it was impressive, with some 30+ vintage WWII aircraft taking off, forming up, and then flying over me at the end of the field in one huge formation. The sound was awesome!

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Now I headed for the Abbington Hotel in Stevenage for the night. Greta took me right to the correct location, but because of road construction and rush hour traffic, I didn’t see the hotel on the first pass. I was able to circle around and take a slower look the second time, and there it was. The proprietors of the hotel were French and not too welcoming to “a bloody American” who needed to wash some dirty clothes. However, the accommodations were nice and a welcome sight after a long day on the road.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 10

28 Oct

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

 

 

Day 10 – Friday July 10th

The full English breakfast at the Box Bush Cottage B&B, in their lovely country style kitchen, was outstanding, with all fresh ingredients. If I had to grade the places I stayed during this trip, Box Bush Cottage would get 10 out of 10 in all categories.

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First on the list of stops today was the Madingley American Cemetery in Cambridge, which is a beautifully sculptured 30+ acre memorial with over 3800 headstones honoring American servicemen who died during WWII. As it happened, a large group of British RAF Cadets were touring the memorial and being professionally photographed. Their smart looking sky blue uniform shirts and berets made a striking contrast to all those white headstones.

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Then it was on to the Shuttleworth Collection in Baggingswade. This was a very special museum with a collection of 50+ aircraft, many of which have been restored to flying condition. They had six hangers full of beautifully restored aircraft, ranging from pre-World War I examples to aircraft produced up until the end of World War II. They also had a large restoration hanger which housed at least six different vintage aircraft in various stages of restoration.

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Next I planned to visit the Bletchley communication center in Bletchley park, where most of the British code breaking activities were conducted during World War II. When I arrived, it appeared that the facility was very extensive and when I asked the clerk at the ticket counter how long I could expect the tour of the facility to last he said, “Two or three hours to see everything.” I decided that would eat up too much of the schedule for the day, and chose not to participate in that museum.

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This gave me a little extra time before I was to meet my friends Mark and Tina at 4 o’clock in Newport Pagnell. I decided to go ahead and visit the Milton Keynes Museum early instead of after dinner as planned.

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This museum is an example of a 200 acre working Victorian farmsted in the Wolverton and Greenleys area of England during the early 1800s. There were examples of every conceivable type of equipment and technology (including a Wakefield Water Wheel electricity generator) needed to run a farm of that size during that time period.

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Mark and Tina are friends of my son & his wife. I sharing a video DiVoran had made for them, and then we made a video of them for our family. We went to one of their favorite pubs (The White Horse Inn) for dinner and it was wonderful. The food was great and the conversation was excellent. However, dinner and visiting lasted a little longer than I had planned.

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When I left their house for my hotel in Reading, I went the wrong way on the M1 motorway. When I finally realized what I had done, I had to retrace all those many miles I had just come. Things still didn’t seem right. So, I checked the hotel SatNav address again and discovered I had plugged the wrong numbers into Greta. By the time I finally realized that mistake, it was getting really late and I still didn’t know where I was. Greta couldn’t find the hotel SatNav address there in Reading, and neither could I. I had the street address, but I couldn’t read house numbers on any of the houses.

8

We went round and round, back and forth, up and down the streets. I finally discovered Church Road changed names just at the point where I had entered that road. One way it was Church Road, the opposite direction was another name. I was beginning to think I was going to have to spend the night in the car, but luckily the Elmhurst Hotel had a lighted sign out front and a doorman on duty. It was almost 3 am by the time I got to the hotel, and I was too tired to do anything but just get to my room (up three flights of stairs) and get in bed. Wow. What a day!

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—–To Be Continued—–

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Flying Legends Airshow~Part 9

21 Oct

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Flying Legends

Day 9 – Thursday July 9th

1

After another great English breakfast at the Riverside Pub, the first museum on my list today was the City of Norwich Aviation Museum, located adjacent to the Norwich Airport. This was a small museum with 12 beautifully restored aircraft displayed outside. However, two of their displays were a Vulcan bomber and a Nimrod naval patrol aircraft. It’s amazing to me how these small museums manage to acquire these very large and rare aircraft.

2

Next it was on to the Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum in Bungay. This museum consisted of some 13 nicely restored outside static displayed aircraft and two Quonset hut type buildings of WWII memorabilia. This was one of the few UK aviation museums that did not have a Vulcan bomber in their collection.3

The Parham Airfield Museum turned out to be nothing more than a small restored control tower which was closed that day. I am assuming that the control tower contained memorabilia related to the U.S. 390th Bombardment Group that was based at this field during WWII.

4

The Ipswich Transportation Museum has the largest collection of transportation items in Britain devoted to just one town. Everything displayed in the museum was either made or used in and around Ipswich, a county town in Suffolk. This included cars, trucks, buses, and trollies. The museum also includes many items of the Ipswich Engineering Collection.5

This turned out to be a fairly short day and Greta took me past the Box Bush Cottage B&B Iocated in St. Edmunds the first time. After I re-entered the SatNav, address she took me right to it. Box Bush Cottage is a lovely 200 year old two-story home situated on approximately 20 acres of beautiful farm land. The owners Nick and Emilie were some of the greatest hosts a person could ask for. They had beautifully landscaped yards and gardens. They also had some black Chochin China chickens, a really cute pet goat, and a couple of the cleanest small pigs I’ve ever seen.6

Nick is a roofing contractor and amateur race car enthusiast. He owns and was preparing his Morgan Three-Wheel Super Sport for a hill-climb event at Shelelsey Walsh in Worcestershire on the following Saturday. In case you are like me, having never heard of the Shelelsey Walsh Speed Hillclimb; it is a 1000 yard long 10-16 degree incline course that hosts one of the oldest motorsport events in the world (begun in 1905). I was very interested in the Three-Wheeler since I had only seen photos of them at car shows. Nick informed me that the Morgan Motor Company began hand building the first “Cyclecar” in 1909, which was the company’s original Three-Wheeler, that Mr. Morgan called the Morgan Runabout.

7

Because of its superior design, it wasn’t long before the Morgan Cyclecar was entering and winning Cyclecar races throughout the UK and Europe. These race wins culminated with the winning of the Cyclecar Grand Prix at Amiens in France in 1913, against much opposition from many continental four-wheelers. After that victory, Morgan named one of his most popular Three-Wheeler models the Grand Prix.

8

In 1920 Morgan introduced the four-seat Family Runabout three-wheeler which helped put economic travel within the reach of most families. Morgan Cyclecars continued to be improved and upgraded thru the years, and in 1931 the Super Sport was introduced.

9

After WWII Three-Wheeler popularity declined such that production was finally discontinued in 1953. Morgan continued building automobiles, but then some 60 years later, in 2014, by popular demand, the company “Reimagined” their Three-Wheeler to 21st century standards. Nick’s new and improved Morgan Three-Wheeler is a beautiful machine, and I wished him and his son the best of luck at Saturday’s hill climb.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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