"EDR" wrote in message
...

Reading Rich Bach's book, "THE GIFT OF WINGS".
I had been skydiving for eight years and was tired of just going up and
down. I was 26, single, had the time, had the money, so I did it.

Father was in the RAF and I remember him me taking to his station one
Saturday morning when I was three years old. He stuck me in a Chipmunk
whilst he used the paint sprayer to paint the old car he drove. I spent a
happy hour just sitting there. Apparently when I went quiet he looked in the
cockpit and I was fast asleep.

I can still smell that plane.

Of course I grew up around planes and got to get up really close (like
inside) to just about everything the RAF had up to 1976 when he retired as
well as some strange craft in some foreign airforces.

On one base we were stationed, they had a gliding club. I first learnt to
fly gliders but soon after going solo I went off to college and it fell
away.

One year I started a new job in a new town. In the village we moved to an
airport was nearby. I had made a good profit on the privatisation of British
Airways and decided that I was going to spend the money learning to fly. On
Sept 11 that year I had my first half hour. I took the first part of my
General Handling test 16th August the next year and the final part on the
4th September. My son was born on 1st September.
Total hours when the test was completed, 44. My licence was issued 13th
Sept.

It had taken just a year and the toughest decision was whether to quit when
we found out we were expecting a baby.

Looking back I am glad I continued, because my son enjoys coming flying, and
wants to learn himself one day.

sg

Strangely, I have never managed to get in a DH Chipmunk since and I would
dearly like to fly one.