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The Grumpy Gang

The Grumman Aircraft Pilots Association European Branch

In the headphone, I heard a German Air force Transall talking to Scottish Control. I called them and we exchanged some lovely words in German. Mach's gut - kommt gesund wieder! The Transall crew flew NW to Canada, the little Grumman south via Tiree, Colonsay, Islay, Londonderry - where all the civil war started - to Galway. We saw all the restricted areas around most cities and thought these are to protect the jails against unauthorized helicopter landings. In Galway the EDDO crew had again to apologize to our fellows for being so late. Our friends had to decide to beat us or to take an own taxi. They waited always and were still nice to us. This time Chris had left the group to organise an hotel for us; always the No 1 problem when travelling with several planes. We experienced Galway as fascinating university city with so many young people who enjoyed the late summer days in the parks. And than the pubs with all the Irish music. This year is a special year. Arthur Guinness celebrates his 250 birthday. And in Dublin later on, we learned that Guinness is doing very well in marketing.

Last destination: Weston / Dublin. Dave and I became a bit sad facing the end of this pleasant tour. Therefore, we planned again a maximum mission, this time through the South of Ireland.

As the most of us, we flew over the Aran Islands where Peter Ruwe and I had a lovely time years ago in Inishmore (not too many beds but many beers). We followed the west coast and had exiting low level flights through river valleys and all the green areas of Ireland.

To fly to Weston, needs some preparations. But even with good maps and frequencies we were quite busy to get the clearance in time to approach through an active restricted area from the south.

Weston is a lovely GA airport. Heidi from Bayern made the dispatch (and her commercial licence). After a shock refuelling in Galway (more than 500 Euros for fuel and handling) we enjoyed now tax free fuel, because our next station was UK. This airfield is very much to recommended.