Ron Flockhart och hans Mustanger
Något år tidigare hade han nästan nått fram med G-ARKD (se nedan). Vid mellanlandning i Aten försinkades starten på grund av byråkrati. Från The story of Ron Flockhart's last race av Neil Follett och Nick Stroud:
Anxious not to lose any more time, Flockhart refuelled quickly and requested clearance from the Tower, which was refused as no flight plan had been filed. Requesting to file an airborne flight plan, Flockhart was refused again, the Tower demanding that he pay landing fees, despite the fact that these had already been seen to by Esso. As Flight elegantly put it: ‘temperatures rose−in the Tower, in the cockpit and in the cylinder heads’.
Realising that resistance was futile, Flockhart retired for a rest, before trying again in a few hours. With the paperwork sorted, he returned to the Mustang in the early morning, but found on starting that steam was issuing from the cowling. Refilling the coolant system, he found that the coolant was running out between Nos 3 and 4 cylinders on the starboard bank. By this time he was twelve hours behind his schedule, but two days ahead of the solo record.
Geoff Godall ska ha cred för bilderna i detta inlägg.
Berättelsen om denne daredevil och hans rekordförsök borde även vara föremål för en svensk artikel, till exempel i GranTurismo. Vem hugger tag i det?
