I possess two great memories from the early 60s,
We were on exercise in Germany on a big field, We were flying a British Army DHC2 Beaver from it, primarily for us to get bespoke training in freefall,
Amongst the goods and chattels that were in the trucks was a BSA M20 dispatch bike,
The Sgt Major asked if anyone wanted to show the non riders how it was done,
A "Friend" suggested I was just the fellow, along the lines of Please sir Mr Clarke can ride a bike sir, I was, to use a modern term "Shafted",
I pulled on the obligatory gauntlets and my metal hat, Kicked it over and pulled in the clutch,
The last thing I needed to do was stall the blo*dy thing in front of my section so engine wide open I dropped the clutch,
Since then I have ridden thousands of miles on hundreds of different motor cycles But I wheelied that Beezer between the trees and for the first 100 metres I just hung on,
This was the most exhilarating thing since leaving the tethered balloon at Lyneham for the first time.
I was on a track which bought me to a small road, I turned right and started to learn the gears, another right turn bought me to the field, through the open gate to the now congratulatory crowd who had decided that if Mr Clarke can do it so can we,
I fell in love with Bikes and biking from those few minutes of exhilaration ,
A love I have never lost,
Shortly after a white Jeep pick up came into the field, the suited driver went to the boss and the next we know a Unimog was coming onto the field towing a long metal lattice frame, we were asked to help pitch this tower and about 30 minutes later a "Good-Year" Blimp came toward us at low level trailing two ropes from the nose,
I had learnt years before to not touch any ropes or cables hanging from Helicopters until they had first grounded the static out of them, We hauled it onto the pylon and shared a few bottles of beer while one of our fitters changed the plugs on one of the "Lycoming" flat 6s which were pretty much the same engine as powered the Clockwork Mice (Bell 47) in service with the Army Air Corps.
Yes I have a few bad memories of my service but also some truly life enhancing ones as well.
Shaun.