Runways of My Life by Lee Smith

Author:Lee Smith [Lee Smith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: -
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2019-10-16T16:00:00+00:00

After fuel stops in Nova Scotia, Greenland, Iceland and Belgium, we arrived in Turin and met the Bugnone family. Aldo was the father and CEO of an aluminum production company. Piero, his oldest son, ran the company, assisted by Alberto, Piero’s younger brother. Aldo’s daughter, Valeria, had nothing to do with the company, which involved the production of aluminum. They built aluminum factories that would take raw materials such as bauxite, melt it, roll it into sheets, stretch it, and turn out things like trays, plates, containers, and even film. There were even looms that would produce clothing containing threads of shiny aluminum—quite stylish for 1973. Most of their customers were Eastern Bloc countries, including Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Greece, the UK, and Russia. Aldo’s wife, Teresa, was the real boss of the family, a quiet woman with an iron will.

I never knew how many villas the family owned, but I did get to see two, one near the factory in Turin and another at Portofino. Both were big, old, and completely staffed with maids, cooks, butlers, and chauffeurs. I can never forget Giovani, a chauffeur for the family who had served during WWII. He had been captured and spent years in a prison in Kenya. He spoke Swahili as well as Italian, but no English. He was a kind, quiet man of about seventy, with an unshakable loyalty to the family. Aldo was always dressed in a suit and tie, fastidiously clean and neat, but always good-natured and humorous. I remember him stretched on the Portofino dock beside several other people, who were all in swimsuits. Of course, he was in his well-pressed suit and tie. It was as if he was standing at attention while lying there, feet together, smiling and joking with the others, quite at ease and not in the least embarrassed. Aldo started with nothing, selling burlap bags. In time, he developed a business and became an inventor. One of his inventions was the textile loom that produced clothing with aluminum threads woven into it. He also became politically powerful and acquired the title of “Cavaliere di Lavoro,” or “Knight of Labor.” He had great influence on the government in Rome. Whenever I had a problem with my Italian license or the plane, his favorite expression was, “We will move someone in Rome.” The problem always disappeared. Sometimes, locally, it was easier to lubricate the path with money. The Bugnones offered me a permanent position as chief pilot for the new Learjet, which I accepted. My family and I stayed for four years in Italy.

Mike went home but got qualified with a type rating in Learjet in Wichita Kansas Learjet factory. Pier Carlo Busato, a very young man experienced in aerial photography in Nepal and Tunisia, was hired as the new copilot.. He was also a racecar driver and a member of the Italian ski team.

We took a trip to Sofia, Bulgaria. While at an Orbis hotel for lunch, we met a small orchestra group.

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