John-Michael and "Your Aeroplane" as
you used to call ZS LRI the Cessna 150 which we so often flew together
in.
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John-Michael here you are in the cockpit
of a South African Airforce Mirage F1 at the airforce base Waterkoof only
days before you were so brutally abducted to Germany.
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The fish on the right is very first
fish that you ever caught, a fish you caught all on your own from uncle
David's sailing boat: A prouder John-Michael have I seldom seen
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Nana Hickman who has been so
hurt by all that has happened
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John-Michael with your grandpa Hickman
who loved you so very much.
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John-Michael your duck that you raised
from a day old chick, your duck that you loved so very much
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Our garden with the tree John-Michael
always used to climb on the right
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Here is one of the Aeroplanes that I
owned, a Piper Vagabond PA 17, it was acquired as a template from
which to copy the parts that were missing on the Vagabond that I was rebuilding.
Your mother and Aunt Ricarda have both flown in this Vagabond.
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Here is the Vagabond PA 15 that I also
owned and that I rebuilt in my workshop at home to a PA 17 from a bare framed
wreck that missed many pieces including undercarriage, all control
levers and pedals as well as engine and engine mount. Both of the wings had
large portions of the leading edge badly damaged. I completely striped the
entire aeroplane to it's most basic components, not a single nut or bolt
remained together, and then I completely rebuilt it after refurbishing or
re-manufacturing every single component.
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Please come back to this
page often over the next few days as I have lots of photos to publish
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Some of my very earliest memories from when I was four years old
are of the flying boat base at Congella where I went as a child with my
Dad.
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Here is a picture of one of the SAAF Short Sunderland flying boats
from Congella taking of from the Maydon Channel in Durban bay. John-Michael
may still remember sailing on his uncle Mel's, David's and his own
sailing boat with his own Dad here.
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I have a very clear memory of standing in the cockpit of such a
Sabre in 1958 while my baby brother Melville sat on the ejection seat.
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On the same day at the opening of the Louis Botha Airport in 1958
I clearly remember my father's friend opening up the front section like
the bonnet of a car and taking out his flying helmet before going of to
do his air display
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My Dad was my inspiration for wanting to fly, he always took me to
see aeroplanes but strangely enough would not take me in an aeroplane,
he said that only birds and bloody fools fly. Grand dad knew what he was
talking about, he spent many years in the air himself, only I would not
listen to him, I had to find out myself the hard way. It took many years
before I got to fly in an aeroplane a Harvard as the one above. Today I know
why, but just like me and your grand dad I want you also to experience the
wonders of flight.
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Many years later I had the opportunity to fly a Super Frelon like
this one. In fact we made an offer to the SAAF to buy their entire fleet
of 11 helicopters when they were due to be de-commissioned.
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