My First Flight.

My First Flight.

By Len Morgan

I have to cast my mind back to 1948~49, when I first found I could leap from tall buildings with impunity.  Just before splattering on the ground I would close my eyes and open them again, and I would find myself lying snugly in my bed.  After the first time, I would regularly wake up from my dreams by jumping off cliffs or tall buildings.  It all began when my friend Tony told me he'd heard that if you die in a dream you will never wake up.  Being a fearless/foolhardy four-year-old I thought I'd like to disprove his assertion. 

My theory was "I'm the hero of this picture if anything happens to me the world will come to an end..."

A short time after that first jump I thought I would spread my arms and try to fly, and I did.  I jumped and instead of falling I rose into the air and flew over lush countryside, following rivers, diving down into towns and cities where I hovered and watched people and animals; they didn't seem to notice me passing.  That was when I realised that in my dreams I was invisible and invincible.  I flew higher and higher until I could see the curvature of the earth, and the sky became darker.   I dived down until I was skimming the surface of the sea at incredible speeds.  I saw ships on the sea and buzzed them, In my euphoria.  Then into the sea viewing boats on the surface from below.  Initially, I held my breath underwater, then I realised I didn't have to breathe.  I saw shoals of fishes and swam amongst them.  I sat on the conning tower of a submarine, played tag with dolphins; they for some reason could see me perfectly well and chattered excitedly in their high pitched voices.  I flew up into the dark sky, towards the sun; the heat didn't increase as I drew near.  So I went, into a sunspot and witnessed a magical firework display I emerged on the opposite side of the orb, and saw Jupiter in the distance.  I crashed into Jupiter's misty smoke and liquid gas, It tingled, but there was no aroma.  I wasn't aware of its constituents then: Hydrogen, Helium, Ammonia & Methane (very pungent).  I flew high above the Solar system and looked down, I felt like a god, master of all I surveyed.  I consciously grew larger, expanding until I could view the Universe without moving my head; hundreds of thousands of stars... 

Mum shook me gently.  "Time to get up Lenny, breakfast is on the table, boiled eggs with toast soldiers."

Sadly, somewhere between 9 and 10 my best friend Tony was drowned while on holiday, about that time I lost my powers; I've not been able to dream fly since.

My first memorable flight in an aircraft was a boring affair in comparison.  I was in the army; I'd been posted to The Middle Eastern State of Sharjah.  We travelled by VC10 to Bahrain.  We took off from Brize Norton at 0800hrs Spent 15 hours in the air, continually buffeted by winds and air turbulence, which banished any opportunity for sleep.  There were plenty of sick bags employed on that flight.  We were issued with Army packed lunches, and bottled water: tea and coffee were also on offer in flight.  At Bahrain, we were transferred to a small RAF transport aircraft.  There were no seats, just hammocks.  Freight was secured at the rear and we were housed along the outer walls.  The aircraft was an ancient turboprop plane that crabbed through the sky, it found every bump and hit every thermal.  We rolled out at Sharjah and were conveyed to barracks for the night.  We were issued with salt and malaria tablets and given 48 hours to acclimatize.  During those first two days in Sharjah the average wet-bulb temperature, over the 24hr period reached 136 degrees; the highest temperature ever recorded in an inhabited area at that time.

Ah the British Army such a wondrous place!  You can catch sunburn whilst training in the desert and be charged with causing damage to government property, through 'self-inflicted wounds': Yo!  I think the sun had something to do with it too, don't you?

 Just a year earlier I had spent a month in Lillehammer (Norway), undergoing winter warfare training.  The temperatures there dropped as low as -40degrees; it wasn't a record but I doubt many have experienced a temperature variation of 176 degrees within a 12 month period.

Ah!  The memory is a wonderful thing, but fallible.  We drove to Norway in Land Rovers from Lippstadt West Germany.  To get there I had to fly from Gatwick to Hannover.  A completely uneventful trip about which I have no memory.  I don't even recall the return trip.

As to having knowledge of astronomy at the age of four?  I now view that with suspicion.  I can confirm that everything that came later was accurate. 

In the immortal words of Eric Morecombe: "I replayed all the right journeys, but not necessarily in the right order."

 So, on balance I would suggest you take what I’ve said, with a pinch of nutmeg…

Copyright Len Morgan