Chapter Five
The boys followed Mr Brown down the darkened corridor. As they got closer they could hear the sound of various airplanes coming from the display beyond. Andy was still trotting to catch up when he bumped into the old man coming the other way. The two stared at each other.
There was a pause, and then the old man smiled and shook his head. His face looked strangely familiar to Andy.
“Hello there, young fellow.” he said. “You seem very excited about the aviation exhibition. Make sure you see the display about the pioneering aviators, Archie and Edmund Spencer –Brown.”
Andy had read about the history of aviation and knew many of the big names. He’d never heard of the Spencer-Browns before; whoever they were.
“The Spencer –who’s?” he asked somewhat confused.
The old man smiled.
“Listen, I have no idea who you’re talking about and I have to go.” Andy said as he tried to slide past.
“You would be surprised about exactly who I know, Andrew Anderson,” the old man said with a chuckle.
Andy suddenly felt uncomfortable.
“How did you know my - ?”
“Come on Andy!” Tim called.
Andy took his cue from Tim.
“Who was the old guy you were talking to?” asked Tim as Andy caught up.
“No idea,” said Andy. “Just some crazy old dude who insisted I look at some flyers I’ve never heard of. What’s even weirder, he knew my name.”
“How did he know that?” said Tim looking back at the old man shuffling down the hall.
“Don’t know,” said Andy as they entered the aviation display.
On the other side of the door the class found themselves in a large hall filled with aircraft displays of all kinds.
They could sit in the cockpits of famous aircraft, surrounded by video screens simulating such things as dog fighting in a 1940’s Spitfire, attack missions in a Harrier jet, or dropping emergency supplies in a Hercules air-lifter.
‘Big and Fast’ was a virtual reality airliner simulator and was the centrepiece of the exhibition. The ‘pilot’ sat in his seat with his virtual-reality helmet on and took off from an exotic Pacific island in a huge 1930’s flying boat. After takeoff, the plane morphed into a thundering 1950’s airliner with huge propellers spinning on either side of the cockpit. A few minutes later the plane turned into a massive 1970’s Boeing 747 before its final transformation into a supersonic Concord flying 12 miles high at twice the speed of a bullet.
Andy was on visual overload. This was almost too much for him. If he liked airplanes before, he loved them now.
“Let’s line up for the ‘Big & Fast’ thing and look at the other things later,” suggested Tim.
Andy hated waiting.
“You go ahead. I’m gonna have a look around.”
While Tim joined the queue, Andy started to investigate the hall. He moved steadily around, absorbing information like a human sponge. The only thing to dampen his enthusiasm was the arrival of the Skull who wanted to beat the lunch rush to the museum café.
Andy didn’t care. He’d miss lunch before he would leave any part of this hall undiscovered. He walked around the corner and stopped. In front of him was the only life-sized display in the whole room. Andy read the text.
‘This display is a life-sized replica of the famous de Havilland Comet race plane registered G-ACST. The Comets were built for the 1934 McRobertson air race from England to Australia; however G-ACST was not completed in time for the race.
Her sister airplane G-ACSS named ‘Grosvenor House’ piloted by Mr C Scott and Mr T Campbell-Black won in a time of 71 hours. Today thousands of people fly this very same trip comfortably in less than 24 hours; however this flight by Scott and Campbell-Black created a sensation in 1934.
G-ACST was completed and sold to Mr Edmond Spencer-Brown in 1935. Mr Spencer-Brown was fast becoming an aeronautical superstar with a number of record flights.
On the 24th of February 1936, Mr. Spencer-Brown left Croydon airport near London in an attempt to reach Australia solo in less than three days. He made two re-fuelling stops in Iraq and India. His next stop was to be Singapore, but he never arrived. An extensive search was mounted for him, but no trace was found.
In 1993 a team surveying a small volcanic island off the coast of Indonesia found the remains of both G-ACST and Mr Spencer-Brown. His diary notes state he was injured during a crash landing on the 26th of February and managed to survive several weeks until his medical supplies ran out. His last entry in the diary was the 7th of April, 1936.
In a sad footnote to this story, Mr Spencer-Brown’s brother Archie, also a noted aviator and World War 1 hero, died in an aircraft crash in the Swiss Alps on the 8th of March 1936 whilst flying to Singapore to search for his brother.
In this display you will see several genuine items collected from the crash site as used by Mr Spencer-Brown, including his diary, which survived the long years on the deserted island.
The text went on some more, but Andy had the gist of it, so he stopped reading and looked up to survey the scene.
The Comet was lying on its belly and had realistic looking accident damage. It was surrounded by tropical plants, sand, and a makeshift camp site. In the middle of this scene sat a man in his late 20s or early 30s. He was an expensive wax model, looking tanned and unshaven in torn clothing with a bandage around his leg and a tangled mat of dark hair. He was sitting on the remains of part of the plane and appeared to be writing in a book. Andy was hard-pressed to tell he wasn’t real.
There were a number of items laid out in front of him, some of which, Andy noted, were mentioned in the text he’d just read. Above them were three video screens that showed old photos and film footage of the de Havilland Comet planes and Edmond Spencer-Brown.
Overall, it was very impressive. The sort of thing you would expect on a Hollywood movie set.
Andy was just about to turn and walk away when a thought struck him. He looked back at the scene. The lighting seemed to be focused on the marooned pilot and whatever he was writing. Andy read the text again.
‘In this display you will see several genuine items…’
“Yadda yadda, blah blah. Ah, here it is.”
‘His diary which remarkably survived the long years on the deserted island.’
“Surely these idiots haven’t left this man’s diary within reach of the likes of me,” Andy thought to himself.
Andy had a look around. He was hidden from view with no one in sight and no barrier to stop him.
“Let’s have a look at that diary then,” he said to himself as he stepped over the rope barriers.
In two strides he was up to the wax figure. It looked no less convincing up close. Andy knew he was way out of line and would get into serious trouble if he was caught, but this was just too good a chance to pass up. His ears were straining for any sound of someone approaching. His heart rate accelerated and he could feel his pulse pounding through his body.
“Scuse me, old chap,” he said in his best English accent in an effort to remain calm.
He lent forward and slid the book out from under the figure’s hand, half expecting it to protest and grab him by the wrist.
“Yes!” he said, almost as if he’d had to fight for it.
He stood up and took a closer look at the book. It was a diary dated 1936. It had been red or crimson once, and bound with expensive looking gold trim, but having spent years on an island somewhere it was tattered and faded.
Andy couldn’t believe it.
“Why would they leave this out here and not just put a copy or something in its place?”
He opened the diary and was about to begin reading when something caught his eye. It seemed wrong; out of place. Andy closed the journal and bent down again to have a closer look at the object in the figure’s other hand. It looked like some sort of charm. Its body was round and had smaller circles inside it. On the face of the pendant was a seri
es of figures made up of dots and dashes. Andy had seen them before, but he just couldn’t think where. A long piece of leather cord was looped through an eyelet at the top and at the end of the cord was a metal clasp.
“It’s a necklace,” Andy said to himself. “But it’s a bit weird for a necklace.”
It looked ancient and mystical. Unlike anything he’d seen before.
“No, it’s a… I read a book about it,” Andy was struggling for the word. “Yes! That’s it. It’s a Talisman!”
Having renamed the necklace a Talisman, Andy felt honour-bound to try it on. His crisis of conscience over the diary was long gone. He knew if he were caught now he would be up to his neck in trouble, but he reached out and picked the Talisman up regardless. It felt warm, almost alive in his hand, so much so he nearly dropped it.
“Strange,” he thought. “Let’s try it on.”
Without ceremony or delay, Andy slipped the Talisman’s cord over his neck. He wished he hadn’t.