Page 103 - Demo

101not be broken. Therefore, it was also not surprising that, as we got to the fuel pumps, we were quickly surrounded by a sizeable crowd. As we refuelled, there was some amusement and pointing at the fin of my aircraft, and I realised that the speed tape, hastily applied to disguise the swastika, was fooling no one (displaying the swastika is illegal in Germany). Before I was able to get myself an overdue cup of coffee, a young member of the flying club asked very politely if he could introduce one of his club%u2019s seniors, a Luftwaffe pilot who had flown the 109. Meeting pilots who have flown these aircraft operationally is almost as big a buzz as actually flying them, and of course I agreed. A short, very dapper, man was duly introduced %u2013 the formal nod, handshake and visible stiffening of the shoulders were text-book Bavarian. Introductions over, he then went on what I can only describe as a tour of inspection of my aircraft. I dutifully fell in one place behind, and we completed a walk-round %u2013 with me half expecting to be picked up for an unpolished rivet at any moment. We got back to the cockpit and, with his hand on the aircraft he said, in heavily accented English, %u201cThe 109 is a very dangerous aeroplane.%u201d Taken slightly aback, I could only mumble %u201cIt does have its moments sir.%u201d %u201cJa,%u201dhe continued, %u201cI crashed three!%u201d I refrained from congratulating him on helping our war effort, and inadequately replied with something like %u201cOh my goodness.%u201d He continued: %u201cSo I decided to go onto something much less dangerous.%u201d I was anticipating something like Junkers transports or the like but, with a twinkle in his eye, he said %u201cJa, I went on to midget submarines!%u201d And it was true.A slightly humbler pilot got airborne from Augsburg, and we set course for our second port of call, Bautzen. Bautzen Airfield lies about 30 miles east of the city of Dresden, and just 18 miles from the Polish border. In truth, this leg of the journey was as unremarkable as it was pleasant. The weather was stunning, as we headed NNE, first over Bavaria and into Saxony, and then around the corner of the Czech Republic that juts out into that part of Germany. Our aircraft required an over-flight clearance for the countries we transited, and we did not have one for Czech, so we could not straight-line to Bautzen. Squeezing between the Dresden zone and the German/Czech border, we arrived at a deserted Bautzen airfield,