Sailplane & Gliding 1966 - Lakes Gliding Club

CALIFORNIAN HOLIDAY
By FRED SLlNGSBY
L
AST March, Fluff and I thought it
was time to go and see our many
friends in the U.S.A., particularly Dick
and Lucy Lyon. who live in Tarzana.
near Hollywood, and who had sent os
many pressing invitations.
The Lyons are typical American soaring
folk, Dick has two Diamonds in his
C badge, and perhaps a third by nowhe
has been gliding for many years. He
also knows every bit of California. certainly
all the best soaring sites. As far
as Dick is concerned, California is
America at its best: 1 agree with Dick
every time on that score, at any rate.
As the spring is the best for a holiday
out West, we made a quick decision. and
on Friday, April 15th, we left Manchester
Airport on a Super VC-IO for New
York. en route for Los Angeles.
Apart from a long delay at the first
stop at Prestwick. and then another 45
minutes wait on the landing field at New
York until a dock was cleared, we had
a wonderful trip in the luxurious YC-IO
to Kennedy Airport. where we made our
first contact with the U.S.A. It was
rather bewildering at firsL The whole
World's population seemed to be scurrying
around in gr,eat haste in all direclions.
With the help of a friendly American
(and all are very friendly indeed) we get
a "charge call" through to Lucy Lyon
to let her know we would be an hour
late in Los Angeles. We found our
"gate" for a Boeing 707. The clerk who
booked us in was very cheerful: "Wha.l
do you think of it?" he said. "11 sure
myst look a tangle to you folks. but it
all works out. you'll find." When we
were told we could get aboard, I was
very impressed by tne well lighted and
carpeted corridors. leading straight from
the waiting room gate right into the
aeroplane. No draughty march across a
w~ndy patch to a mobile stairway in
Wintry conditions. It was indeed a pleasant
contrast to what we had been used to.
As soon as we found our seats we
were asked by the stewardess ir" we
wanted anything. With a certain doubtful
air, we asked if we could have a
cup of tea. It came up with a smile,
and very quickly too!
We arrived at Los Angeles at 7.30 p.m.
local time, but not so our luggage.
Dick Lyon had a very forceful talk
with a nice man in a little office, who
put through a call to New York. We
then followed Dick to another arrival
point. and waited about an hour: and
behold our luggage suddenly turned up
from another flight. It was getting on
for 9 p.m. local time. but my watch
showing Manchester time was after 4
o'clock in the morning. Nevertheless, we
felt fine and enjoyed our first sight of
Los Angeles. its lights stretching to the
horizon in all directions. as we joined
the broad stream of traffic on the freeway
which eventually took us 10 Tarzana.
.
Dick and Lucy Lyon live in a charming
house. with a "backyard" (garden to
liS) with about half a dozen orange trees.
a few lemon trees. palms. and a lot of
spikey looking plants. and lots of lovely
coloured flowers. There is a roomy patio
for lounging in the sun and having a
barbecue. The temperature next day was
98'F. but very dry. 1 was told that a
tre~ of tangerine oranges had all bee-n
Dick alld LlIcy Lyon.
339