What a party!
BRACE yourselves for more Harvards, more parachuting. Valerie Johnson, of the Bluff, asks who remembers an incident in the mid-sixties when a Harvard crashed into a Skymaster and the occupants (of the Harvard) baled out?
So dramatic was it that people thought she'd laid it on as entertainment for her kid's birthday party.
"It was on a Saturday afternoon around the end of June. A pilot and his pupil were flying a Harvard over the Bluff. They were in the clouds doing instrument flying. When they emerged from the clouds there was a Skymaster right in their way.
"They crashed into the tail of the Skymaster, which flew up the North Coast before turning back for the airport. The pilot and his pupil parachuted from the damaged Harvard, which was rapidly falling to the ground, as was part of the tail of the Skymaster.
"We and friends and excited children were watching all this from our verandah at Brighton Beach as it was our son Mark's birthday party. At that time, when aeroplanes weren't overhead every few minutes, one was apt to look up whenever one was heard, and that is how we viewed this incredible happening.
"Some of the dads piled into a Morris Minor and hurried off in the direction of the Harvard and the parachutists. Mark was yelling: "Bring back the tail for me!" The plane had crashlanded in a vacant plot adjacent to the Wentworth Bowling Club, where the greens were full of bowlers. The cricket field was on one side but there was no game that day. Grosvenor Girls' School was on the other side but no pupils were there at the time, though the janitor and some of the ground staff were on duty.
"So tragedy was averted by the Harvard coming down on the vacant plot. The pilot came down somewhere in Bluff Road, and his pupil was caught up on a telegraph pole in Edwin Swales Drive. Both were unhurt.
"The children thought we had put on the show specially for the birthday party."
Does anyone else out there remember this incident? I've my suspicions - maybe Valerie did lay it on herself.
Long glide
MEANWHILE, another reader recalls an incident about 12 or 15 years ago when a light aircraft en route late one afternoon from Virginia Airport to Grand Central, outside Johannesburg, developed engine trouble over Greytown.
"This was a particularly dangerous situation, especially in the fading light. But the pilot, taking advantage of Greytown's altitude and his own above the town, with unbelievable skill managed to glide back to Virginia and land after dark. Both pilot and passenger were uninjured."
Anyone remember that?
NoW jokes
NEWS of the World jokes are coming in:
· The News of the World crossword next Sunday will be quite straightforward ... One Down.
· When I first read that Murdoch had closed one of his papers, I didn't believe it because I read it in The Sun.
· News of the World readers, do not despair. You still have Readers' Wives, The Daily Star, ITV2 and Jeremy Kyle to amuse you instead of getting a job.
· As of midnight this Saturday, footballers can leave a nightclub with whoever they like.
· Wow, who saw that coming? Harry Potter and the News of the World. Two of the biggest selling copies of modern fiction ending in the same week.
· Rooney, Giggs, Ferdinand and the rest will be celebrating the closure of the News of the World, no doubt. The whores of Manchester are in for a busy weekend.
· The News of the World informed staff that they will be made redundant by leaving a message on somebody else's mobile phone.
MULTICHOICE has announced a major reprogramming.
Stormers games will no longer be shown on Supersport as Supersport is the Channel of Champions.
Blue Bulls games will be moved to the History Channel.
Sharks games can be viewed on the cartoon network.
And Lions games will be a speciality show on Animal Planet, since they're almost extinct.
Oh boy, the punters can be cruel. But who's looking forward to the Tri-Nations? Let's not talk about the World Cup.
Tailpiece
THEY'RE a fastidious couple. She's fast, he's tedious.
Last word
Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. ~Ernest Hemingway
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