The Grumpy Gang

The Grumman Aircraft Pilots Association European Branch

Home > On Tour > Tour 2002 >  Biarritz France

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We had rough ideas on where we wanted to go - basically anticlockwise round the whole Iberian peninsular, but no great desires other than to enlighten people as to the joys of Grumman flying and having a good time.

As per normal operating practise on these trips, planning was left to the whims and fancies of the participants - Now don't get the impression that we were a load of unfaithful, feckless inebriates - we were very careful to ensure that we did have a map …. somewhere!!

In about January 2002 the major decision was made to commence the tour immediately following the annual European AYA gathering at Marmande in France.

Why then? Why not wait until later?", I hear you asking.
The reason was simple. Due to the fact that most of us had already slogged our way down, through and sometimes across, France to make it to Marmande, we could think of no believable excuses to tell our partners why we had to spend their housekeeping and new frock funds in returning home only to have to re-trace our steps again a few weeks later. It was fait accompli - as the Scots often say.

Two aircraft and their crews (André in OO-GAZ and Paul & Alan in N5644L) who hadn't been able to attend Marmande, left home and headed to intercept our wayward tracks at some point in time.

Biarritz is a delightful airport, situated on the Atlantic coast, just on the French/Spanish border. It was a traditional waterhole for the rich and famous but we saw no rich people and certainly no waterholes, however, everyone was friendly, there were decent facilities and the ATC didn't really need re-training - the young lady controller behaved very well once she had overcome the shock of having to deal with a load of Grummans and Sir Brian's accent!

The main bunch of us set off to begin our trip on Monday afternoon 20th May following a wonderful send off from members of the Escadrille de Orion, the Marmande flying club. Our agreed destination was Biarritz in order to clear with French customs. The weather was beautiful. A zillion miles visibility - perfect.