Post by Admin on Apr 26, 2014 8:59:01 GMT
After years of flying round the Game Parks of Africa for Lindbad Safaris and others, the decision was made to sell these queens of the sky.
A Canadian Broker from Toronto bought them and volunteers were called for to fly them back to Canada.
The volunteers were
Paul Dardenne
Tony Kennaway
John Sparkes
The other aircraft were to be flown by friends of the Broker.
The conditions were, no expenses and claim back for rooms and food.
The aircraft were re-registered in Canada and we had permission to fly them.
August 16th 1973.
Departed late for Khartoum due to East African DCA formalities and arrived at dusk in Khartoum. We found a very old Hotel which had a real air of dignity and looked out over the junction of the Blue Nile and White Nile.
My air con made a noise and not much else, certainly no cool air.
Breakfast was decently served, as many boiled eggs and as much toast as you could eat, all served on cracked Wedgwood plates and with Mappin and Webb cutlery (battered a bit).
August 17th.
Delayed again, no traffic was allowed on the roads until after 11am because this was the day that the Sudan changed from driving on the left to driving on the right. The Military, the Police and the Boy and Girl Scouts were all drafted to make sure that when we went out to the Airport that we drove on the right hand side of the road.
Khartoum, refuel in Cairo and on to Heraklion in Crete. Uneventful for most of us but Tony Kennaway lost an engine and had to be left behind in Crete for repairs.
August 18th.
Heraklion, Rome Nice. Another good clear day a good Hotel in Nice but we found the only poor restaurant in the city.
August 19th.
Nice, Prestwick. A good trip across France and England and beautiful weather in Prestwick.
August 20th.
Prestwick Reykjavik.
Starting to become cold. I had never been so far north before. Spent the night in Reykjavik because the next day was going to be long.
August 21st.
Reykjavik, Narsarsuaq, Seven Islands, Quebec.
This was a very long day. We left early in the morning and almost immediately saw our first icebergs. The weather was good and we had a tailwind due to a high pressure system over the mid Atlantic, quite amazing. We flew into Greenland over the ice cap and descended into Narsarsuaq in clear conditions. Refuelled and then off to Goose Bay where we had a near miss wit a military DC4. Our route took us over an iron mining camp, which is not even shown on the map, where we had a call from a Miner asking “Are there any Girls on board, can I please talk to a Girl”.
A 727 above us found a Flight Attendant who sounded really nice and she talked to him until she faded out to his cries of “Can I see you, write to me, send me a postcard, I love you” serves him right for going there in the first place.
Refuelled again in Seven Islands (Sept Isles) and spent the night in Quebec.
August 22nd.
Quebec, Toronto.
Handed the aircraft over to the Broker. We had a couple of good nights in a Hotel, a quick visit to Niagara Falls, a quick look at the new TV tower being built on the shore of the lake then back to Nairobi via London.
I talked to Eddie Parker about it and he told me that during WW11, he spent some time in Narsarsuaq which at the time was an American Base called Bluie West One.
The North Americans would ferry aircraft to Narsarsuaq and the RAF would ferry them on the next leg to the UK. Eddie being one of the ferry pilots.
I remember that when we left, there were a few light aircraft dotted along the hillsides. They had been caught out by fog and just had to land anywhere they could.
Eddie told me there were a lot of military aircraft in the Glacier including a number of Lockheed P38s which had also been caught out by the fog.
As a pilot this is the only time that I have flown the Atlantic and I went across at 5000 feet nearly all the way.
The trip from Nairobi took 56 hours 50 mins. According to my records and at about 140 knots this is about 7950nm.
A Canadian Broker from Toronto bought them and volunteers were called for to fly them back to Canada.
The volunteers were
Paul Dardenne
Tony Kennaway
John Sparkes
The other aircraft were to be flown by friends of the Broker.
The conditions were, no expenses and claim back for rooms and food.
The aircraft were re-registered in Canada and we had permission to fly them.
August 16th 1973.
Departed late for Khartoum due to East African DCA formalities and arrived at dusk in Khartoum. We found a very old Hotel which had a real air of dignity and looked out over the junction of the Blue Nile and White Nile.
My air con made a noise and not much else, certainly no cool air.
Breakfast was decently served, as many boiled eggs and as much toast as you could eat, all served on cracked Wedgwood plates and with Mappin and Webb cutlery (battered a bit).
August 17th.
Delayed again, no traffic was allowed on the roads until after 11am because this was the day that the Sudan changed from driving on the left to driving on the right. The Military, the Police and the Boy and Girl Scouts were all drafted to make sure that when we went out to the Airport that we drove on the right hand side of the road.
Khartoum, refuel in Cairo and on to Heraklion in Crete. Uneventful for most of us but Tony Kennaway lost an engine and had to be left behind in Crete for repairs.
August 18th.
Heraklion, Rome Nice. Another good clear day a good Hotel in Nice but we found the only poor restaurant in the city.
August 19th.
Nice, Prestwick. A good trip across France and England and beautiful weather in Prestwick.
August 20th.
Prestwick Reykjavik.
Starting to become cold. I had never been so far north before. Spent the night in Reykjavik because the next day was going to be long.
August 21st.
Reykjavik, Narsarsuaq, Seven Islands, Quebec.
This was a very long day. We left early in the morning and almost immediately saw our first icebergs. The weather was good and we had a tailwind due to a high pressure system over the mid Atlantic, quite amazing. We flew into Greenland over the ice cap and descended into Narsarsuaq in clear conditions. Refuelled and then off to Goose Bay where we had a near miss wit a military DC4. Our route took us over an iron mining camp, which is not even shown on the map, where we had a call from a Miner asking “Are there any Girls on board, can I please talk to a Girl”.
A 727 above us found a Flight Attendant who sounded really nice and she talked to him until she faded out to his cries of “Can I see you, write to me, send me a postcard, I love you” serves him right for going there in the first place.
Refuelled again in Seven Islands (Sept Isles) and spent the night in Quebec.
August 22nd.
Quebec, Toronto.
Handed the aircraft over to the Broker. We had a couple of good nights in a Hotel, a quick visit to Niagara Falls, a quick look at the new TV tower being built on the shore of the lake then back to Nairobi via London.
I talked to Eddie Parker about it and he told me that during WW11, he spent some time in Narsarsuaq which at the time was an American Base called Bluie West One.
The North Americans would ferry aircraft to Narsarsuaq and the RAF would ferry them on the next leg to the UK. Eddie being one of the ferry pilots.
I remember that when we left, there were a few light aircraft dotted along the hillsides. They had been caught out by fog and just had to land anywhere they could.
Eddie told me there were a lot of military aircraft in the Glacier including a number of Lockheed P38s which had also been caught out by the fog.
As a pilot this is the only time that I have flown the Atlantic and I went across at 5000 feet nearly all the way.
The trip from Nairobi took 56 hours 50 mins. According to my records and at about 140 knots this is about 7950nm.
