Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1956-05-29
u OUR
"a town

and all. After a fine nights
sleep, we all go over to the
Prestwick airport for dinner
guests of Jimmy and Phyllis
Jeffs and there we meet a
real American hero Clyde
Pangborn. You will remember
Pangborn as a man who flew
the Atlantic just after Lind
berg. Clyde was also the first
man to fly the Pacific.
This fellow Pangborn is a
genuine nice guy we find and.
as a matter of fact, we have a
hard time getting him to talk
about himself. Jimmy Jeffs
supplies us with the inside
dope. Jimmy and Clyde have
been bosom friends for many
years and both were instru-
mental in the first ferry serv-
ice between the us. and Brit
ain during the war. Their stor-
les concerning this then dan
gerous and important business
are hair-raising even for the
few hairs we have left! Clyde
is still flying and has recently
been in Cyprus where ali the
trouble is. Without doubt,
Clyde has been in every nook
and GRANNY of this old world
and it is our opinion that
someone should write a book
on his exploits. Terrific guy
halls from the State of
Washington and his family
still lives there. In a couple of
days he will again fly the At
lantic at which time he will
take his navigation officer,
his wife and all their house
hold goods across by way of
Iceland and Newfoundland.
We consider this pretty fancy
moving. Anyway, we find that
Clyde knows just about every
body in the aviation business
including Lindberg, Byrd and
"Wrong-Way" Corrigan. 1t is
to our great regret that we
cannot have the chance to talk
at length with Clyde so that
we could recite more of his
story. But is all good fun and
we get a large charge out of
it all. Surely, a man who has
spent his life flying warrants
a good word here and else
where for his deeds. Clyde
promises to give us a call next
time he comes to Wright-Pat-
terson Field down Dayton
way. He told us that he knows
London since, in the old days,
he used to follow the Penn
sylvania railroad for lack of
aerial maps at that time.
Met a young man from Min
neapolis on the way back
from Ireland name of David
McCabe. Nice fellow just out
of the Army and he is taking
a trip through Europe before
going back to the University
of Minnesota to finish his sem
ior year there. / don't envy
him much though as he is trav-
cling alone. We saw goodbye"
at Stranraer and he takes off
like a scared rabbit in his lit
tie European-style car.
And speaking of cars
they have every conceivable
kind of car you aver imagin-
ed here. There are three
wheel models. big ones. mid
die sized ones, and great big
ones. Unlike the States. the
British. French, italian and
German manufacturers are
many and they produce SEEM
ingly hundreds of different
makes and models and they
all go like the wind, there be-
ing no speed limit here. Put
an Englishman Cor any other
for that matter) in q car and
he Immediately puts the ac-
celeratcr tn the floor. But,
strangely, the accident rate is
very low as compared to ours.
And the prices are something
terrific! A Rolls-Royre of the
large size costs almost S25.-
600! British purchase tty runs
about 70 per cent of this but
it is still a lot of money even
without the tax. No wonder
they run a car for twenty
years over here.
Tomorrow we plan 10 leave
dear old Prestwick and go on
up through the Scottish lake
country. you know, Loeb
J.ommond etc. Odd they call
this the lake country when
il is so mountainous, but then
it's the mountains that make
the lakes. Anyway, we'll pro-
badly see a lot of tartans,
tams and towns as we make
our way to Lochearnhead
where we will spend a day or
two before heading to Edin-
burgh.
And so it is with a lot of
real sentiment that we 81.
goodhve to the McFarlannss
and Mr.. Hepburn. the owners