Aviator

My lifelong fascination with flying had its origins in my childhood when my grandmother took me along to an airfield and sat me in the cockpit of an aeroplane where I could pretend to fly. My dream came true after meeting an elderly gentleman in New York. I was in a men’s clothing store when I noticed the man staring at a pin, shaped like a vintage aircraft, which I wore on my jacket. He asked me whether I knew which aircraft it was. I said I had no idea and he replied that he had bought such an aircraft from Howard Hughes and would show it to me if I were interested. In the following month, his pilot took me up flying in his aeroplane – a Spartan Executive – and we became friends. A couple of years later, he sent me a catalogue from an English auction house which was offering various vintage aircraft for auction. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the low prices. My budget at that time allowed me to buy two aircraft, one of which was in pieces, for less than the price of a new Volkswagen. By this time, although I had clocked up several hundred hours flying in modern aircraft, I had lost my enthusiasm for flying. This changed the moment I piloted the Broussard, one of the two post-war aircraft (WWII) which I owned. When you fly a vintage aircraft you hear the engine noise, smell the oil and fuel, and feel that you are flying the plane and not the other way around. Of course, a jet flies very fast and is very comfortable, but you are 10,000 meters above the earth and could just as well be sitting in your living room.