Fill er up!

Fifty years ago today, I was pumping jet fuel into old French fighter planes under a blistering north wind called “Mistral” in a base, located just a few miles north of Marseille, France.

Unbeknownst to many, these subsonic aircraft called "Mystère IV", made by Dassault, were ordered in 1952 as a gift to the French Air Force from the U.S. Government!

In all 411 plane were manufactured and the remaining planes were used to train the faculty officers at the Salon de Provence air base (the French equivalent of Colorado Springs).

Besides filling up the tanks, I also work as an aircraft mechanic, a task I didn't really enjoyed, but there were even more menial jobs to be had in the French Air Force.

I used my spare time working on my English and learning to fly glider planes, the only fringe benefits I ever could extract from a forced-occupation I despised.