Society Trip to France - July 2001

It was my privilege to be among the eight members of Cross & Cockade who met at 08:00 on Friday 2nd July, in the forecourt of Euston Railway Station, for the journey by road to Paris and the famous Air Museum at Le Bourget. The trip was ably organised by Mike Pearce, aided and abetted by Paul Leaman. By 08.15 our mini-bus with Paul at the wheel was battling through the London rush hour traffic. Once across the river and into the Kent countryside it was a case of "tails up" for France!

Pausing along the motorway for elevenses, and to attach the large C&C badge brought long by Des Furze to the front of the bus (well, it pays to advertise!) we continued to Dover and on to the ferry. The Channel was like a millpond, so lunch was enjoyed by all. Leaving Calais behind us, with Mike now at the wheel we were soon in familiar territory. The hangars of St. Omer passed on our left hand, looking a little different from the last time Jimmy McCudden saw them back in 1918. So many signposts familiar to WWI buffs flashed by our windows as Mike made the most of the prevailing west wind of Flanders.

"I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles" - well that’s what the song says, and it did just that the Friday afternoon we arrived at our hotel in Bagnolet, just twenty five minutes away from the Musée. The first thing was to check the plumbing - the showers and air conditioning were working, so the patron saint of WWI Aero buffs continued to smile upon us. Having been on the dawn patrol, we opted for dinner in the hotel restaurant and a chance to get to know Luca Farina, an Italian C&C member accompanying our group visit to Le Bourget the next morning.

Up among the catwalks, with a walk through a Zeppelin engine gondola. The view afforded by the catwalks of the exhibits suspended from the high roof gave me a chance to pay my respects to "Old Charlie" one of Georges Guynemer’s SPAD biplanes. I was pleased to see that it looked just like the flying scale model of 254 I made in my creative years, when my eyes were clear and my fingers still nimble.

I don’t know how Mike managed it, but we virtually had the Museum to ourselves for the duration of the visit. It could not have been a better morning! Good company, and a superb collection of well maintained vintage aeroplanes - more than enough to satisfy even the most demanding member of our Society. Although the morning could not have been better, the best was yet to come. About 14:00 our little group returned to entrance, where Melvin Hiscock had arranged to meet us, so that we could follow his car around the old airfield perimeter, where we parked up alongside several workshops.

Melvin took us into the first, and introduced us to the French enthusiasts, working on a 1915 Bleriot two seater with a l60hp Le Rhone, and a Fokker Dr1 with a 160hp Le Rhone, that had recently acquired an authentic streaky brown paint job.

Tucked away in various corners of the workshop were an LVG fuselage awaiting attention, and a SPAD VII that had survived the rigors of Hollywood war-flying films as part of the Talmantz collection.

The craftsmanship displayed by our French friends is superb - and I couldn’t get over the how clean and tidy the workshop was for our visit! I had a double check just in case Prince Charles or Elton John was with us, masquerading as C&C members ...

Next door the workshop housed an ex-French Navy Lancaster under renovation. As the French ‘Lanc’ will be for static display only, the con-rods from her Merlin engines will be exchanged for the Battle of Britain Flight Lancaster con-rods, that are nearing their sell by date. Other interesting items in No.2 workshop were a French 1950’s vintage helicopter, and the framework of wartime German gliders that had been in use against the Resistance groups fighting in the mountains.

In the third workshop was an amazing collection of aero-engines under renovation, from the flat twin used in the Santos-Dumont Demoiselle of 1908 to a Merlin from a Spanish ME109.

All too soon the time came to thank Melvin and our French hosts - it had been an afternoon to remember. Then it was back to the hotel to shower and change before setting off down town for dinner, and to compare notes on all we had seen. We were still comparing notes when we returned to the hotel bar. It was well past midnight when I left them to it, after making my farewell to Luca, who was by then "my old Italian mate"!

Sunday morning (it having rained during the early hours - or so they told me!) it was cooler, as guided by George Miller Mike headed for a Paris Flea Market. Leaving Paris about mid day, Mike took a detour from the motorway to give us a chance to pay our respects at the Arras Memorial for British and Commonwealth service men with no known grave. For someone who has studied the first war in the air for the past 60 years, the sight of this monument, inscribed with the names of the airmen of the RNAS, RFC and RAF with no known grave, was a moving experience. Thanks to the Mike’s knowledge of French motorways we arrived back in Calais in time to catch an earlier ferry than we had planned, and enjoyed a mid Channel lunch.