The Wind Beneath My Wings: John Hutchinson Concorde pilot by Ottaway Susan

Author:Ottaway, Susan [Ottaway, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lume Books
Published: 2020-09-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Tragedy in Life

There’s no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1890–1969, 34th President of the USA

Both John and Sue had been given compassionate leave when their respective employers had been told about Tim death but after the funeral John felt that he had to get back to flying as soon as possible. British Airways suggested to him that he might like to take Sue on the next flight that he made and gave him the choice of a trip to either Cairo or to Nairobi and the Seychelles. Grateful for the kindness that was being shown to them, they chose the latter. They flew off to Nairobi with John as the operating captain and then onwards to the Seychelles where Sue remained while John took the aircraft back to Nairobi before returning to join her in the Seychelles where they stayed for a two-week break. John had told the cockpit crew about Tim, and Sue told one of the stewardesses. All the crew members were very kind to the couple, listening to them when they wanted to talk but not forcing any conversation and, when it was time for them to return to England, both felt that they had benefitted from the trip: the two weeks in the sun had been good for Sue, and John had needed the therapy that flying provided.

For 14 year old Chris, Tim’s funeral had passed in a blur. He was angry that he had lost his brother but didn’t want the sympathy that friends and family tried to give him. He felt that, after everything his elder brother had been through in his early life, it should have been he who died, not Tim, and he felt guilty that he was still alive. He wanted his life to get back to normal as soon as possible but, in the absence of the bereavement counselling that is available today, he didn’t know how to cope with his loss.

The previous year he had been on an exchange visit to Germany where he stayed at the home of a pilot who flew for the German airline, Lufthansa, and whose son, Thomas, was a similar age to him. It had been arranged that the boy would visit Chris during his Easter holidays and, although John and Sue were willing for the visit to go ahead, believing that it might help Chris, they felt they had to tell the boy’s parents about what had happened and leave it to them to decide whether or not their son should make the trip to England. Happily it was decided that Thomas should come and his visit did provide a welcome diversion for Chris.

While John went off on another flight Sue took both boys to stay with her ‘Aunt’ Norah, who had moved from the house in Crondall where Tim had been born, to Beominster in Dorset. On a visit to the beach at Charmouth one day,

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