A TOUR THROUGH EUROPE IN A NEW 356
By Robin Hansen
The following is excerpted
from the 356Talk email list. The section breaks represent a conversation
between two of the list members --Ed.
"Driving aggressively on some
(German) rural road..." takes me back to 1963 when two of us flew into
Furstundfeldbrook (misspelled) in a T-33 from Wethersfield, England to
go to the Octoberfest in Munich. In those days in the USAF you could get
in your flying time to stay current by visiting interesting places. It
was a German fighter base then and we were given a car and German Air
Force driver to take us to Munich. I thought I had driven fast and
recklessly (at least in my youth) but this drive took the cake. I then
understood why the Germans had the highest accident rate in Europe. The
drive must have impressed me because the memory of it is with me after
35 years.
--robin
Hi Robin...
I was stationed at
Wethersfield RAF station from 1951 to 1953. Is that were you took off
from? I have many fond memories there in the quonset (metal) huts living
with the British while being in the USAF.
PS: used to go to Braintree Essex for our drinking parties with the
English Ladies.
--R.T. Raucher
Robert,
I was a USAF exchange
officer with the RAF and stationed in London at the Ministry of Aviation
and flew out of Wethersfield from 60-64. The most dangerous part of my
flights was driving my 356 from Hampstead Garden Suburb to Wethersfield.
The days you were stationed at Wethersfield were really exciting. The
F-100s (not armed with their tactical bomb load) used to penetrate
toward East Germany at low level when the weather was bad on the other
side. They would turn back just short of the border, but they would have
flushed the Migs who, because of the weather, cold not return to home
base, but had to go to other bases. Just a great game among adult boys.
I picked up my '60 T-5
cabrio at the factory in the winter of 1960. A super for $3,608. Doesn't
sound like much now, but it represented about a third of my annual
salary as a Major on flying status. In the spring of 1964, packed my
wife in the front of the 356 and two children (13 and 15) in the back. I
removed the folding backs and replaced them with stuffed pillows. We
drove from London to Athens via Italy and back through Yugoslavia. A
trip of some 30 days.
My wife had made a bunch of
small bags that we could stuff everywhere. When they were all unloaded
they made a cone about three feet in diameter and coming to a point
about five feet high. Most impressive when we stopped at upscale hotels.
Mostly we got by on the $5/day book. One of the down scale places we
stayed on the road to Athens from Patras was less than a dollar a day
and it wasn't worth it. There were three cots with the only light
hanging from a worn electric cord in the middle of the room. Our Greek
wasn't all that good, but the hotel was used to that. Each item on the
menu was accompanied by a picture. These must have been the origins of
the icons used in computers. By the time we left, I could spell coca
cola in the cryllic alphabet.
We were on the outskirts of
Athens on Greek Easter and would stop by the side of the road where
families were roasting lamb. The kids would run to the car and give us
each a hardboiled egg dyed red as a present. In Athens that afternoon we
went to a restaurant in the Agora just below the Acropolis where I had
eaten after T-33 flights to Athens in the previous year. It seemed
closed, but we walked up stairs and finally got to the roof where they
were having the employees party (Easter in Greece is like Christmas
here). They asked us up and insisted that the children have a swig of
retsina wine which really tastes horrible. Then we shared in their lamb
and went down to the restaurant where we had yogurt and more wine and
Greek dancing with the handkerchiefs and all.
The children (now 48 and
50) remember the trip well. As they say, if I did it today I would be
hauled in for child abuse. I also didn't mention that I smoked cigars
then and kept the side windows up because the ashes would blow around if
I didn't. Neither smoke now which I think is a result.
--robin |
