Chapter 2

May cooked a quick breakfast whilst Tom and then Artem transferred their GoPro videos to my laptop. A taxi was arranged, Tom and May drove me to meet up with it outside the Pattaya hospital. The object was to get to Suvarmabhumi Airport, meet up with Noel Jackson and his family to catch the 16.00 hrs Thai Airways flight to Ubon. I again thanked the people who'd done so much for me and said my goodbye's. The drive up to the airport was utilised to get myself onto the Thai Airways flight. It was fully booked. After more hectic in-taxi phone calls, Noel managed to get me the last seat on the 18.50 hrs Air Asia flight. A close run thing! After seeing the Jackson family off to Ubon, I continued my seven hour wait for the Air Asia flight. On arrival in Ubon I met up with the Jackson's again, their numbers had grown with relatives who'd come to meet them. We spent the next hour and a half driving north on Highway 212 to Loeng Nok Tha. A backdrop of thunder and lightning reminded me of why I was making this journey in a pickup and not a Flexwing. Ray Hough, Frank Maggoch and their partners were staying at the Pudin Hotel awaiting the arrival of the aborted Fly-in. Thanks for your intended participation of the occasion folks, it's a big regret it was blown-off. Thursday morning 5th April started with breakfast in the Glashouse (correct spelling) and a chance to get to know ex 54 plant op Frank Maggoch and partner Elsie. After breakfast we headed off down to the airfield where we explored what remains of Crown Camp. As the heat started to build, I utilised every piece of shade I could find.

Noel Jackson arrived riding his motorbike. To ride down to Crown and open it up on the runway is always the first fun holiday activity for him. After wandering around the camp area for a while, we moved onto the airfield where Frank recounted some of his memories as we inspected the apron access road culvert. The skies started to cloud over although the heat was oppressive. Ray had hired a car which we used to take a video of Noel riding the full length of the runway and then along the apron to the Gatehouse

Noel sped off to Ban Kut Hae, we headed back to Loeng Nok Tha, calling in on the Tesco Lotus. The skies were darkening and the wind rising. When we exited the Tesco Lotus it had started to rain intermittently. Back at the Pudin I sat in the foyer as the clouds grew darker and the rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance. The thunder grew louder and sheet lightning started to flash in the skies. The rain started heavy and continuous. Soon a monsoon storm was hammering down on Loeng Nok Tha.

I amused myself by videoing different scene's around the Pudin as the storm raged, but uppermost in my mind, was that the decision to abort the fly-in had most definitely been the right one! Flying flexwings and tropical thunderstorms don't mix. Ray, Frank and their partners left for Ubon the next day. I carried on with a conventional holiday for the next three days. I seem to remember a trip to Mukdahan with shopping and eating but not much else. Until the following Saturday

Noel and I decided to pay another visit to Crown Field in the hope of seeing Sgt Presha the Royal Thai Engineer detachment commander. This was to be a meeting that would have a considerable impact on future events. After chatting for a few minutes the Sgt phoned the man who'm we now know to be Dr. Chern Brahmacupta. The Doctor lives in Ubon and owns one of the resident aircraft. After a few seconds of chatting Sgt Presha handed me the phone as the Doctor wished to speak to me.

The Doctors English is far better then my Thai, which is non-existent. He explained how disappointed he was that the fly-in was blown off. Tom and May had arranged with Dr Chern for some social flying between the airfields residents and the visiting aircraft. He was looking forward to the fun of sharing the skies over Loeng Nok Tha, with a squadron of Flexwings. Then the bombshell! Chern was travelling up from Ubon the next day and would we like to fly with him? Would we? Strangely, my throat was dry but I managed to croak "Yes Please".