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Old 11-17-2019, 03:52 PM   #794
woofa.express
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Location: Tocumwal, NSW, Australia
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Default Re: tell a Model A related story

Peter’s story.

There’s some strange stories and some funny stories that come out of Africa. Here’s one.

Peter Hamilton was and engineer who serviced our aeroplanes in Sudan. We were flying the Rockwell Thrush which is powered by a Pratt and Whitney R1340 (9 cylinder 600hp radial). These aeroplanes were ferried from England to Sudan the previous year and did not involve me. One had engine failure in Egypt so a newly overhauled engine was airfreighted to Cairo. Peter was sent to install it but had difficulty with bureaucrats at the airport when he wanted to collect it. Nothing seemed to work for him until he had a light bulb moment. You know those business cards that important people or those people who think they are important carry. They were once white cardboard but today they seem to have gone upmarket with colours and are laminated. Well Peter took one, the cardboard type and with a cork top from a bottle of cognac he inked and smudged an impression on it and signed over it. Well that got him entry to the airport warehouse and he collected the engine, but his difficulties weren’t over. He couldn’t get to the downed aeroplane because it involved transit through a military zone. Eventually he got written permission from the Egyptian equivalent of the minister of defence. Yes that got him through but he was stranded there for the permission didn’t say he could return through their zone. The modified business card described earlier overcame that difficulty.

Initiative can be powerful when used well and if that fails add a little bullshit and a claim becomes compelling.

The pictures are of a Rockwell Thrush, taken in Sudan. I don't know which aeroplane it was. There were 12 in all. The second is of a Pratt and Whitney R1340 on a test stand. This picture from the internet.

Attached Images
File Type: jpg thrush.JPG (72.7 KB, 9 views)
File Type: jpg r1340.JPG (57.8 KB, 9 views)
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Last edited by woofa.express; 11-17-2019 at 05:06 PM.
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