Paginatitel

by Ni Thomas - Milford-On-Sea, Hampshire, England

GUST-RAC probably grew out of the dying embers of the original GUST or more correctly out of the dying brain cells of those that survived the amber nectar overindulgences of the Grimbergen fly-in of 2000.

To those of you who are new to these mnemonics or are simply totally confused - Firstly, join the club, and secondly, allow me to explain the meaning of the above alphabet soup.

GUST was the name given to the Grand Unplanned Scandinavian Tour undertaken in 1999 - the heroic exploits of which have been previously documented so we won't be boring you with the details again.

GUST-RAC is the son of GUST - It is the Grand Unplanned Southern Trek - Round Alps Clockwise - a name which, I am sure you'll agreed, is truly applicable and runs freely off the tongue!

Well, it is all a matter of enjoyment really. GUST was so successful that once more we European natives had decided to see if we could still gather enough enthusiasm to venture into the unknown, to test the skill (and patience) of the various ATC authorities of foreign countries, to test our linguistic abilities with the local bar-tenders and sexy blonde maidens and to see if we could get a sun-tan. Advancing old age may have had something to do with it - Our hormones needed some revitalising too but our wives wouldn't let us take them with us (our hormones that is! Mine were kept strictly under lock and key!!)

In summary and to save you reading any further, we nearly succeeded in all categories.

Our plan was to try and fly down through Germany, across Austria into Italy, over, round or even through the Adriatic Sea to Slovenia, back across the aforesaid body of water and across the thigh Italy to the Mediterranean island of Corsica - I hope you've got your maps out and are following this closely. I may ask questions later!! - From Corsica we planned to get back to the French mainland, drop in and surprise an ex-Grumman owner (a Brit) who has just relocated his whole household to France, then up through France and back to our homes - Easy eh?. All those languages. All those different customs and practices. All those different airfield-joining patterns. All those opportunities to get things nearly right!! And not a firm, fixed plan in sight. We'd wake up in the morning, find which way the wind was blowing, where the sun looked brightest and try to remember to what we did the previous evening.

Many thought that they could do it, many evidently came to their senses and decided that discretion was by far the more sensible approach. At one time we had about 22 souls signed up for the trip in 16 Grumman airplanes. In the eventuality there were 10 'core' participants in 6 Grummans. Two more aircraft and their intrepid explorers joined us for part of the trip.

Klaus Hannicke-Peter Romeikat, from Germany

Still need to earn their stripes. AA5B D-EFCI.

Spent 4days waiting for us in Slovenia.