106 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN Issue No 22
Peter Nock later recalled of Ahmedabad:
“Customs had a mass of different, mostly
obsolete, forms to be completed, one of which
had clearly come straight from the docks
somewhere. It had questions about ‘gross
tonnage’ and ‘draught fully loaded’”. Janet later
said that when asked questions such as “have
you complied with Order No 21, sub-section 3A,
of the Civil Aviation Act of 1931?”, she habitually
just answered “yes” and got on with it.
Many times Janet had to be prepared to pack
her bags and leave home for any part of the
world at very short notice. She always took a
special travel wardrobe of four or five drip-dry
frocks and accessories, though generally flew
wearing slacks and sensible shoes.
Over the top
Weather was a regular cause of delays when
going “round the top” from the UK to the USA
and Canada. Janet did more than 50 such flights
and knew the route well, which was useful in
July 1990 when she made her second trip to
the South Atlantic, delivering an Islander for
the Falkland Islands Government Air Service
(FIGAS). She later recalled:
“The last sector was easier this time, as
with diplomatic relations re-established with
Argentina, I could route direct from Punta
Arenas [in southern Chile] to Port Stanley
[capital of the Falklands]. The route was
Prestwick—Reykjavik [Iceland]—Sondrestrom
[Greenland]—Iqaluit [Frobisher Bay, Canada]—
Sept Îles [Quebec, Canada]—Burlington[Greenland]—Iqaluit [Frobisher Bay, Canada]—
Sept Îles [Quebec, Canada]—Burlington[Greenland]—Iqaluit [Frobisher Bay, Canada]—[Vermont, USA]—Jacksonville [Florida]—Fort
Lauderdale [Florida]—Grand Cayman—Panama
City—Guayaquil [Ecuador]—Lima [Peru]—
Antofagasta [northern Chile]—Puerto Montt
[southern Chile]—Punta Arenas—Port Stanley.
The total flying — as opposed to duty hours —
was more than 90hr.
“I was reasonably lucky ‘round the top’ except
for extremely poor weather ex-Prestwick, which
required island-hopping at very low level until
near Stornoway [in the Outer Hebrides], when I
could climb to FL125 [12,500ft/3,800m].”
The flight continued with few delays, as Janet
later explained:
“My final sector was simplicity itself, with
Punta radar notifying me of any traffic over
Argentina, and then later on, over West Falkland,
an RAF Phantom appeared from behind me,
gear and flaps down, having come to meet me
from Mount Pleasant — most exciting!”
Ferry flights were not without humour. Of aABOVE & LEFT In June 1981 Janet was selected to
be part of a delivery team ferrying three Grumman
AgCat crop-sprayers from Wickenby, Lincolnshire, to
Algeria. Whether delivering a primitive single-engined
agricultural biplane or a state-of-the-art modern light
twin, Janet displayed the adaptability and quick
thinking required to deal with any situation that might
— and often did — arise.