Sunday, August 16, 2009

Side trip to Aylmer

Sunday May 24, 2009

With the remainder of the messed-up day, my brother drives us to Aylmer. Why Aylmer you might wonder. Well, as many of you know, it was the place where Glenn pulled off his illegal first solo with half an hour's formal training (!!) in or around 1950. The plane, a Tiger Moth, was owned at the time by an 18-year-old and a 17-year-old - I'll call them C1 and C2, who were planning to fly it to Nova Scotia using an Esso road map!

I never thought I'd get to see the place where Glenn's first solo happened.

Apparently there are often Amish people and buggies to be seen, except on a Sunday. Unfortunately, we only saw a couple of them walking along as we sped by in the car so I didn't get any photos.

The former Aylmer Airport is now a police facility. Another sign describes the part the station played in the training of aircrew and ground crew over the years.

Glenn says:
This composite picture shows the same runway as that in the picture of the Tiger Moth (taken back in 1949 or 50). I did three circuits and landings on that runway and lived to tell the tale. Looking closely at the small photo you can see C2 sitting in the cockpit, making like a pilot. C1 passed away some years ago. C2 retired after a successful career as a flight engineer and we still correspond.

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