Aeroplane – June 2018

80 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JULY 2018

ABOVE:

Before Laker

Airways went under,

Tim headed up

the service entry

of its new Airbus

A300B4-203s. Three

had joined the fleet

when the plug was

pulled on Laker.

CARL FORD/AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM

MJ627/IAC 158, which Bayliss later

rebuilt to fly. This was the end of

Tim’s association with Spitfires, but

he was now extremely busy working

full-time for Laker Airways. He’d

joined in 1968, initially to fly the

BAC One-Eleven, on which he

became a training captain. From that

he moved on to the Boeing 707, the

McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and the

Airbus A300, for which Laker was

the British launch customer.

During his time on the 707, doing

some circuit training at RAE Bedford,

Tim experienced what he calls, “the

most extraordinary coincidence.

Knowing what had happened to my

father I was always extremely alert

to Cardington,

with the balloons

and airships.

Going round the

circuit in pretty

low cloud, ATC

said in a very

casual manner,

‘Be aware you’re

approaching a

danger area’. I

didn’t take it

seriously; I thought it was just a rifle

range or something. He came back

a few seconds later: ‘You’re entering

the danger area’... Looking ahead,

I saw this little thing about 300-

400 yards away. At first I thought

it was a seagull, but then I realised,

‘That is not a bird’. I put the 707

upright and this cable flashed past the

windscreen”. It was a tethered balloon.

Given the history in relation to his

father, no wonder Tim insisted on

filing a safety report.

How did he find Sir Freddie

Laker? “Very interesting. I liked him

very much. We didn’t have a union,

and for some reason — I don’t know

why — my colleagues thought I’d be

a good person to go and represent

them for pay rises, allowances and

everything else. I’d go in to see him,

and he’d be very friendly to start

with. He’d insist on giving you a

gin and tonic; he’d have a gin and

tonic as well, but he wouldn’t drink

his. Cunning! Then it would go

through its fraught moments: ‘What

are you trying to do — bankrupt

the company?’ But it usually ended

happily. He was quite a character.

“Freddie Laker asked me to be

project manager for getting the

Airbus going. I got to know [Airbus

in Toulouse]

pretty well. When

Laker went

[bankrupt in

February 1982]

I was extremely

lucky. I think I

was out of work

for 45 minutes

before the French

rang up, saying,

‘Very sorry to

hear about this, Tim. Would you like

to come and join us as our chief flight

instructor?’”

Specifically, this was with

the Airbus training school,

Aéroformation. Tim spent two very

rewarding years there, including what

he describes as “an overseas posting

from Toulouse — at home, here,

to train British Caledonian on the

A310”. But, he says, “it was actually

planned before I went to Airbus that

I would return to our family business.

In order to give that my full attention

I decided I was going to give up

flying completely. I came back in the

summer of ’84, and that was it.

“I think one of the things that made

me conscious of it was that I had two

very young children at that stage. I

counted up and there had been 42

people I had known well enough to

call by their Christian names who’d

been killed in aeroplanes, and that

doesn’t include wartime. Going round

at Toulouse, training people to fly on

one engine, it did cross my mind that

I’d had a good innings and maybe it

was time to give it up.”

The long-established family

business runs pubs, hotels and wine

shops. That’s the company Tim went

to work for before aviation took

over his life, and it still occupies this

highly engaging gentleman today.

But, unsurprisingly, Spitfires still

interest him. A few years ago he went

to see his old steed G-AIDN engine-

running at Wycombe Air Park before

Personal Plane Services completed

its restoration to flight, and he’s

been given a tour of the Aircraft

Restoration Company and Historic

Flying workshops at Duxford. All of

those organisations, and many more,

have contributed hugely to the rude

health of the present-day airworthy

Spitfire population. But the part

played by Tim Davies, a pioneer of

private warbird ownership in

Britain, should definitely be

remembered too.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

The author thanks Richard Riding

for his assistance with this feature.

For historical information, due

credit goes to Spitfire Survivors:

Volume I by Gordon Riley, Peter

Arnold and the late Graham Trant.

(^) Freddie Laker
would insist on giving
you a gin and tonic.
He’d have one as well,
but he wouldn’t drink
his. Cunning!
AEROPLANE MEETS... TIM DAVIES
74-80_AM_AeroMeets_July18_cc C.indd 80 04/06/2018 12:30