Weekend Feature: Shaking hands with history

Some of you may know that I had a little health hiccup recently. I am delighted to tell you that under the guidance of the medical people and Anne, I am making a spectacular recovery.

A bi-product of my convalescence is that I have had an enormous amount of time to review my life and many of the highlights. I'll tell you of one of them.

I was at one time an enthusiastic member of the American 'Experimental Aircraft Association.' This resulted in several visits to their occasions in both Wisconsin and Florida.

To appreciate what we saw and were party to, you have to believe that at each of these occasions they measured the parked visiting aircraft not in numbers but in acres.

I have seen Concorde and Harriers displayed there, together with many prestigious and vintage aircraft and of course experimental aircraft. Everyone in the aviation world who had something to say went there to say it during this week long celebration of the skies.

Rain

Anyway, I digress. During one of the afternoons of this visit it came on to rain, and in Florida when it rains, it rains. Anne and I were caught out with very light clothing and no waterproofs. Looking around in desperation for shelter we espied a wooden shed. It was about the size of a battery hen house.

We tried the door and found it open. We went in expecting to find it empty. Imagine our surprise to find it full of very old people, everyone of whom looked upon us expectantly.

Before we could make our excuses and retreat we were greeted and welcomed to the annual meeting of the 0X5 club.

It transpired that the OX5 club was group of very old people who had flown aircraft powered by the OX5 or 'Liberty ' engine. A condition of membership, we discovered, was that they still had to be active pilots.

This engine was produced in prodigious numbers but had arrived on the scene too late for the 1914/18 war. The Royal Flying Corps had used various derivatives of a French "Gnome Rhone" engine, which were not very reliable so the Yanks decide to make their own.

The Liberty engine remained mostly in the USA and was used between the wars in many smallish aircraft for mail delivery, Flying Circus, filming and everything else you could imagine. They became very cheap and easy to acquire.

Warm Welcome

These people greeted us warmly and took our wet clothes to dry them out and crowded around us in lively conversation. They expressed surprise that we had come from England to visit them and welcomed us to their party.

One old gentleman came and reaching in his pocket gave to Anne a book of matches (you remember them?). He said this is a part of your English heritage and I feel bound to return it to you. It was printed with the Logo of " British Imperial Airways". BIA was the airline that flew around Europe and Africa in Handley Page "Hannibal" passenger aeroplanes. The matches were 1930s vintage.

Their Master of Ceremonies proceeded to engage them in competition. "Now folks (Ladies and Gentlemen ,will you all stand and raise your hands if you flew your first solo on or before 1936." Every one of them stood. I was born in 1936).
"Now all those who soloed in 1935 or before remain standing."
Onward to 1934/1933/1932 and so on with a few resuming their seats as each year was ticked off.
Where do you think we were before we were left with just one sprightly old gentleman.
Yes! He soloed in 1923.

Prizes were presented and the MC went on to conduct a similar competition but this time with the number of hours flown in their lifetimes of flying.
This time they got to 27000 hours before prizes were awarded.

Surprise announcement

The MC then made a surprise announcement. He said: "Ladies and gentlemen, you may have noticed the old gentleman in the corner who sits patiently with his white stick before him. Unfortunately he is no longer a member of this club because as you can see his flying career came to an end when he lost his sight.

"However Mr? (and to my shame I have forgotten his name) makes babies of us all for he was taught to fly and soloed under the tuition of Orville Wright."

He was lively and articulate and was very rewarding to talk to. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how I came to shake the hand of a man who had shaken the hand of one of the Wright brothers.

I think you may agree this was one of the highlights of my life. I conclude by writing that history is a damn sight closer than you think.

Cheers for now

Geoff Farr
P.S. Has it stopped raining yet ?

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