Here's something else I had a go at, courtesy of the husband of someone I was teaching with at the time. The microlight was owned by a pair of brothers. One took a couple of photos while the one in the blue overalls was the pilot. He's making sure I'm dressed up OK. The microlight is this arrangement of scaffold poles and material plus a motor mower engine behind the 'car seat' I sat in. I'm kidding, it wasn't home made but did fold up into a large carry bag, if I remember rightly. Well, it was 1986; at least I remembered to date it on the back of the photo.
This is taking off from the family-owned field in Haddenham, the Chiltern Hills are that pale blue line in the background. This is the only time I saw the Asylum ( as I always think of it as, having done the local history) or St. John's, as it was known to everyone else. It began as the Lunatic Asylum in 1853, when it opened, changed to Mental Hospital in 1919 after WW1, then St. John's when the NHS began. Demolished beginning of the 1990s, so I just managed to see it from the air.
This was a one-off trip. I haven't 'done' a helicopter - yet.
Can't find the ballooning photos, I've put them 'somewhere safe', you know the feeling...
