Aircraft - Aviation - Balloons - Helicopters

Jan. 09 At Eighty-one flying is still fun for the Air-mad major: Up among the clouds over Surrey's hills the sight of small private aircraft pop-popping on their pleasure-cum-training flights is a common one. From airfields such as Chobham's Froaks Britain's part-time airmen whose hobby it is to fly are allowed air spave in which to enjoy themselves and keepin practice. But look up next time you hear a single piston-engine aircraft cruising often at little more than a mile a minute, so much less fearsome than the faster than-sound jets. becasue, in that little bi-plane, handling the controls with calmness, confindence and skill, may well be Britain's oldest pilot. -eighty-one-year-old Major Francis Maunde-Thompson. The major, late Royal Artillery, lives near Woking, and has been flying since Bleriot's day. He qualified for his A license in 1935, and is soon coming up for a renewal which he will get if medical evidence and reports are o-kay. Only thing wrong with the soldier who fought with Lord Roberts in the Boer War, is that he is slightly deaf. And so the goldfish keeping old soldier who has 300-hours logged and who retired from the Army in 1923, hopes the authorities will continue to allow him to enjoy the peace, and the thrills, that only those who fly can ever know. Photo shows the Major's in the air. A picture of the Major flying a Gipsy Moth

Restrictions Only for United Kingdom

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