After an unscheduled departure from his public school and an abortive attempt to join a circus the author made his way to Swaziland, in Southern Africa. Here well-meaning people gave him aeroplanes to fly, and he was awarded his Private Pilots Licence.
The next step was to acquire the hours and exams necessary to obtain a Commercial Pilots Licence. During this period the author lived in Johannesburg, where he mixed widely with people of all races, colours, creeds and sexual persuasions in defiance of the mores and laws then prevailing in South Africa.
Once the coveted Commercial License was obtained, Allen worked for a bush flying company in Botswana, flying tourists round the Okavango Delta or working with the tsetse fly control team. This latter activity involved flying aircraft overloaded with chemicals at treetop height in pitch darkness.
As the hours and days piled up under the African sun the author toyed with the prospect of returning to the UK to obtain a UK Commmercial Pilots License and perhaps even a normal life. He has succeeded in the former, and is working on the latter. He regularly flies night missions across Europe, and has not had to bail out yet.
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