Episode Transcript
1
0:00:00,000 --> 0:00:05,000
Greetings This is a reading of the book The Airship Golden Hind
2
0:00:05,000 --> 0:00:18,000
Some of the language in this book has not aged well and is indeed no longer politicly correct Take caution when listening to this visual audio-book
3
0:00:18,000 --> 0:00:22,000
Footage and photography are provided by Photations
4
0:00:22,000 --> 0:00:35,000
At Photations we believe that the world would be a better place if people spent their time being creative Join us in practicing art so we all can be The Master of Art
5
0:00:35,000 --> 0:00:49,000
Fine Art Prints available at our store W W W dot Photation Store Dot com Keep our Artwork alive by making a donation at Photations Donations Dot com
6
0:00:49,000 --> 0:00:51,000
The Airship Golden Hind By
7
0:00:51,000 --> 0:00:54,000
Percy F Westerman
8
0:00:54,000 --> 0:00:57,000
CHAPTER 1 A STARTLING PROPOSITION
9
0:00:57,000 --> 0:00:59,000
'What’s the move
10
0:00:59,000 --> 0:01:01,000
' enquired Kenneth Kenyon
11
0:01:01,000 --> 0:01:12,000
'Ask me another, old son,' replied his chum, Peter Bramsdean 'Fosterdyke is a cautious old stick, but he knows what’s what
12
0:01:12,000 --> 0:01:16,000
There’s something in the wind, you mark my words '
13
0:01:16,000 --> 0:01:18,000
'Then you’re going to see him '
14
0:01:18,000 --> 0:01:21,000
'Rather And you too, old bean
15
0:01:21,000 --> 0:01:26,000
Where’s a pencil We can’t keep the telegraph boy waiting
16
0:01:26,000 --> 0:01:35,000
' Bramsdean tore a form from a pad, scribbled on it the reply--'Fosterdyke, Air Grange, near Blandford
17
0:01:35,000 --> 0:01:46,000
Yes, will expect motor to-morrow morning,' and he had taken the initial step of a journey that man had never before attempted
18
0:01:46,000 --> 0:01:58,000
Kenyon and Bramsdean were both ex-flying officers of the Royal Air Force What they did in the Great War now matters little
19
0:01:58,000 --> 0:02:22,000
Sufficient is it to say that had they belonged to any belligerent nation save their own they would have been styled 'aces' but since in the Royal Air Force details of personal achievements were deprecated, and the credit given to the Force as a whole, they merely 'carried on' until ordered to 'get out,' or, in other words, be demobilised
20
0:02:22,000 --> 0:02:50,000
Then, each with a highly-prized decoration and a gratuity of precisely the same amount as that given to an officer who had never served anywhere save at the Hotel Cecil, they found themselves literally on their feet, relegated to the limbo of civilian life It was not long before they found how quickly their gratuities diminished
21
0:02:50,000 --> 0:03:06,000
Like many other ex-members of His Majesty’s Forces, they began to realise that in smashing the German menace they had helped to raise a menace at home--the greed and cupidity of the Prof. iteer
22
0:03:06,000 --> 0:03:17,000
They were just two of thousands of skilled airmen for whom as such there was now no need Commercial aviation had yet to be developed
23
0:03:17,000 --> 0:03:30,000
trick flying and exhibition flights lead to nothing definite, and only a very small percentage of war-time airmen could be retained in the reconstituted Air Force
24
0:03:30,000 --> 0:03:56,000
Kenyon and Bramsdean were not men to 'take it lying down ' They had pluck and resource and a determination to 'get a move on,' and within a twelvemonth of their demobilisation they found themselves partners and sole proprietors of a fairly prosperous road transport concern operating over the greater part of the South of England
25
0:03:56,000 --> 0:03:59,000
But it wasn’t the same thing as flying
26
0:03:59,000 --> 0:04:18,000
Looking back over those strenuous years of active service, they remembered vividly the good times they had had, while the 'sticky' times were mellowed until they could afford to laugh at those occasions when they 'had the wind up badly '
27
0:04:18,000 --> 0:04:29,000
Then, with a suddenness akin to the arrival of a 'whizz-bang,' came a telegram from Sir. Reginald Fosterdyke, asking the chums to see him on the morrow
28
0:04:29,000 --> 0:04:36,000
Sir. Reginald Fosterdyke had been Bramsdean’s and Kenyon’s O C
29
0:04:36,000 --> 0:04:51,000
, or, to employ service phraseology, a Wing-Commander On his demobilisation he went to live at Air Grange, a large old-world house standing on high ground, a good five miles from Blandford
30
0:04:51,000 --> 0:05:05,000
Very rarely he left his country-house his visits to town were few and far between, and his friends wondered at the reticence of the versatile and breezy Fosterdyke
31
0:05:05,000 --> 0:05:12,000
He seldom wrote to anyone When he did, his correspondence was brief and to the point
32
0:05:12,000 --> 0:05:23,000
More frequently he telegraphed--and then he meant business In pre-war days Air Grange was famous for its week-end house parties
33
0:05:23,000 --> 0:05:35,000
The shooting, one of the best in the county of Dorset, was an additional source of attraction to Fosterdyke’s guests But the war, and afterwards, had changed all that
34
0:05:35,000 --> 0:05:46,000
Few, very few, guests were to be found at Air Grange the staff of servants was greatly reduced, the well-kept grounds developed a state of neglect
35
0:05:46,000 --> 0:05:56,000
Sir. Reginald’s friends came to the conclusion that the baronet had become 'mouldy ' They wondered what possessed him to live an almost hermit-like existence
36
0:05:56,000 --> 0:06:06,000
Fosterdyke knew their curiosity, but he merely shrugged his shoulders and 'carried on ' His work in the world of aviation was by no means ended
37
0:06:06,000 --> 0:06:13,000
It might be said that it was yet a long way from attaining its zenith
38
0:06:13,000 --> 0:06:34,000
Early on the morning following the receipt of the baronet’s telegram Sir. Reginald’s car pulled up in front of the premises used as the headquarters of the Southern Roads Transport Company Kenyon and Bramsdean, having given final instructions to their work’s foreman--a former flight-sergeant R
39
0:06:34,000 --> 0:06:36,000
A F
40
0:06:36,000 --> 0:06:47,000
--jumped into the car, and were soon whisking northwards at a speed that was considerably in excess of that fixed by the regulations
41
0:06:47,000 --> 0:07:06,000
Although of a retiring disposition, Sir. Reginald Fosterdyke had made a point of keeping in touch with his former officers He had a sort of personal interest in every one of them, and on their part they regarded him as one of the best
42
0:07:06,000 --> 0:07:21,000
Whenever, on rare occasions, Fosterdyke ran down to Bournemouth he invariably looked up Bramsdean and Kenyon to talk over old times But being invited to Air Grange was quite a different matter
43
0:07:21,000 --> 0:07:33,000
Vaguely, the chums wondered what it might mean, conjecturing ideas that somehow failed to be convincing Yet they knew that there was 'something in the wind
44
0:07:33,000 --> 0:07:37,000
' They knew Sir. Reginald and his methods
45
0:07:37,000 --> 0:08:04,000
Through Blandford, up and past the now deserted hutments where formerly German prisoners led an almost idyllic existence in their enemy’s country, the car sped on until it gained the lofty downs in the direction of Shaftesbury Then, turning up a steep and narrow lane, the car drew up at the gate of Air Grange
46
0:08:04,000 --> 0:08:05,000
It had to
47
0:08:05,000 --> 0:08:21,000
There was no gate-keeper to unlock and throw open the massive iron gates That task the chauffeur had to perform, stopping the car again in order to make secure the outer portals of Sir. Reginald’s demesne
48
0:08:21,000 --> 0:08:28,000
While the car remained stationary the two occupants looked in vain for a glimpse of the house
49
0:08:28,000 --> 0:08:48,000
All they could see was a winding, weed-grown road, with a thick belt of pine trees on either hand To the left of the road and under the lee of the trees were half a dozen wooden huts, unmistakably of a type known as temporary military quarters
50
0:08:48,000 --> 0:09:09,000
Smoke issuing from the chimneys suggested the idea that they were in 'occupation,' and a couple of dungaree-clad men carrying a length of copper pipe on their shoulders confirmed the fact Somewhere from behind the trees came the sharp rattle of a pneumatic drilling machine
51
0:09:09,000 --> 0:09:13,000
Kenyon glanced at his companion
52
0:09:13,000 --> 0:09:16,000
'What’s the Old Man up to, I wonder
53
0:09:16,000 --> 0:09:19,000
' he enquired 'Quite a labour colony
54
0:09:19,000 --> 0:09:22,000
Look--air flasks too, by Jove '
55
0:09:22,000 --> 0:09:32,000
A pile of rusty wrought-iron cylinders stacked on the grass by the side of the path recalled visions of by-gone days
56
0:09:32,000 --> 0:09:40,000
'Something doing, that’s evident,' agreed Bramsdean 'What’s the stunt, and why are we hiked into it
57
0:09:40,000 --> 0:09:44,000
' 'Wait and see, old bird,' replied Kenyon
58
0:09:44,000 --> 0:09:48,000
The chauffeur regained the car and slipped in the clutch
59
0:09:48,000 --> 0:10:05,000
For full another quarter of a mile the car climbed steadily, negotiating awkward corners in the rutty, winding path, until, emerging from the wood, it pulled up outside the house of Fosterdyke
60
0:10:05,000 --> 0:10:16,000
No powdered footman awaited them On the steps, clad in worn but serviceable tweeds, stood Sir. Reginald Fosterdyke himself
61
0:10:16,000 --> 0:10:27,000
The baronet--generally referred to by his former officers as the Old Man--was of medium height, broad-shouldered, and deep-chested
62
0:10:27,000 --> 0:10:41,000
He was about thirty-five years of age, with well-bronzed features, clean shaven, and possessed a thick crop of closely-cut dark brown hair tinged with iron grey
63
0:10:41,000 --> 0:10:53,000
He held out his left hand as Kenyon and Bramsdean ascended the stone steps--his right hand was enveloped in surgical bandages--and greeted his guests warmly
64
0:10:53,000 --> 0:10:57,000
'Glad to see you, boys ' he exclaimed
65
0:10:57,000 --> 0:11:01,000
'It’s good of you to come Have a glass of sherry
66
0:11:01,000 --> 0:11:10,000
' He led the way to the study, rang a bell, and gave instructions to a man-servant whom Kenyon recognised as the O
67
0:11:10,000 --> 0:11:14,000
C ’s batman somewhere in France
68
0:11:14,000 --> 0:11:21,000
Sir. Reginald sat on the edge of the table and whimsically regarded his former subordinates
69
0:11:21,000 --> 0:11:37,000
At that moment, rising above the staccato rattle of the pneumatic hammer, came the unmistakable whirr of an aerial propeller To Kenyon and Bramsdean it was much the same as a trumpet-call to an old war-horse
70
0:11:37,000 --> 0:11:39,000
'Sounds like old times, eh
71
0:11:39,000 --> 0:11:41,000
' remarked Sir. Reginald
72
0:11:41,000 --> 0:11:51,000
'Rather, sir,' agreed Kenyon heartily, and, at a loss to express himself further, he relapsed into silence
73
0:11:51,000 --> 0:11:56,000
'Experimental work, sir ' enquired Bramsdean
74
0:11:56,000 --> 0:11:58,000
Fosterdyke nodded
75
0:11:58,000 --> 0:12:01,000
'Yes,' he replied in level tones
76
0:12:01,000 --> 0:12:06,000
'Experimental work, that’s it That’s why I sent for you
77
0:12:06,000 --> 0:12:11,000
I’m contemplating a flight round the world Keen on having a shot at it
78
0:12:11,000 --> 0:12:12,000
'
