Houston, Texas and Pelican Award
Maurice is heading towards Houston Texas as part of his flying tour of the United States for afternoon tea and cucumber sandwiches at AMT Training Solutions http://amt-1.com/, Human Factors Training.
The Florida Pelican Award 13th April 2008Today was rather special for an Englishman far from his native country.Sun ‘n Fun, the Florida Air Show, was drawing to a close and I was due to set off, ‘low and slow’, across the Southern States of America in ‘Liberty Girl 11’ for Mexico, South America and beyond.Florida Sport Aviation Antique and Classic Association had kindly been sheltering me from both the sun and occasional thunder storm during the week’s show and as a member had enjoyed the night aerobatics display from their annual banqueting table. The show was the usual spectacular with none of the infernal buzzing of the modern day noisy machines of Extras or Pitts Specials. Graceful ‘old timers’ instead could be heard in the darkness, my occasionally spotting the silhouette of one against the moon as smoke, fireworks, lights or all three, streamed a trail behind her.Shelly Decker and others gathered to give me the prestigious award only given to those who have achieved something, as he wryly put it, “extraordinary and outstanding”. It is known as the Pelican Award, carved out of wood and resembling their ungainly native bird.It was not until later that night, when I was all tucked up in my sleeping bag under the cub, that I remembered the way pelicans land! Now, ‘any landing is a good landing if you can walk away from it’ and in my case ‘swim away from the sharks’. As the heavy dew dripped off the canvas aircraft around me I kept asking myself, “Have I understood the real reason for receiving such a special award?My flit through the US to Mexico is going to be funwww.kirkflyingvet.com
About Maurice Kirk
Maurice was born 12th March1945 in Taunton, Somerset, in the West of England within a family of 6 kids while both his mother and father were working almost 24/7 to run a country veterinary practice. Country pursuits very much dominated his free time from school sports with his passion still for hunting , shooting and fishing!
Maurice is currently trying to fly around the world in his 1943 WW2 Piper Cub, purported to have been flown by General Patten after the 6th June 1944 D-Day landings. An American read Maurice’s old web site in 2001and laughed so much he donated £25,000 to Maurice to enter the imminent London to Sydney Air Race. Maurice’s whole life is now dominated with that task and obtaining justice in the UK courts in order to practice veterinary surgery in South Wales again alongside his long suffering wife. Authority has another agenda.