Take Heed!

Back in 1935, when private flying was a more carefree affair than it now is, two pilots from the Cotswold Flying Club were fined 10/- (50p) each and ordered to pay costs of 14/6 (72½p) for taking up three passengers from an unlicensed aerodrome, to wit a farmer’s field at Powick, near Worcester, and without holding a B-licence, and charging them 2/6 (12½p) towards the cost of the petrol. One of the pilots was an RAF Reserve Officer. As The Aeroplane said at the time, “perhaps if the pilots had asked their joy-ride passengers to go and buy a can of petrol apiece they might have got away with it. But one must not take money”. This suggests a warning to those people who think that modern weddings can be improved if the bride and bridegroom ride away in a vintage car. If money is offered to the ordinary owner of such a car, to get it cleaned up, suitably bedecked, and used in this fashion, the owner may find that by accepting payment he is breaking the Law, by carrying passengers for hire and reward without the correct licence.

W. B.