Busy life

That year my new girlfriend moved in and we started a new life. She was very supportive and we formed ideal couple the first years. In my free time I restored a lot on my collection of old timer cars in my garage and with my shift job as an operations officer at the base I got lots of free time, most of which I spent organizing air shows and forming my own aerobatic team. All this was fun but didn’t bring in extra money. Therefore I solicited at a travel company that had beautiful double deck touring cars and got hired. During 5 years I drove almost every weekend 4000km up and down to Spain, Austria or Italy. I loved that job; we always were with 2 drivers and a hostess and had an excellent sleeping cabin. 

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I liked shopping around in Benidorm the few hours we had before returning, I liked talking for hours with the hostess while I drove and she didn’t have to serve, I liked driving all night long with the whole bus asleep so I could think about all the things I liked.

My interest to moving things also got me a part time job in a crane company. It was challenging and fun to work with these big monsters, especially when heavy or bulky things had to be moved in unison with other cranes. 

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Doing 3 jobs at the same time got me lots of extra money but left no time to spend it so after only 2 years I gave up the cranes and kept on the busses till I finally got my Air Force transfer from the fighter unit to the transport wing. After my conversion I choose for the little Swearingen Merlin instead of the other VIP aircraft because this was the most difficult to fly and being slower as the other pure jets often stayed for multiple overnights throughout Europe instead of flying up and down the same day. An added bonus was that each year we had to spend 10 days at St Louis USA for refresher training by Flight Safety. 

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The war made me more independent.

Just before becoming captain on this airplane they sent me for 3 months to Croatia as a liaison officer between army and air forces during that war. I was afraid of ending up in the field talking to aircraft for targeting while under fire but got the surprise of my life when I ended up in a single room of a beautiful hotel and being in charge of setting up and coordinating the air support elements out of the headquarters. I soon made contact with local friends my wife knew from her youth. I spent a lot of time with that refugee girl there and I felt I had a sister for the first time of my life. I bought nice shoes and clothes for both of us and she encouraged me to wear what I liked. 

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I also had a profound sympathy for her ex boyfriend who was like a brother to me and I cried almost 2 days before I left them after my mission was over. Those 3 months again reaffirmed my preference for living my own style and after I came back my sexual appetite was almost non-existent and never came back. 

Approaching retirement

The last years in the Air Force were very rewarding and I often flew with members of our Royal Family and ministers of all nations throughout Europe. I often had the chance to shop around during a few days in towns all over Europe (including the old Warsaw pact) while on standby or awaiting the return of our Excellencies. I bought shoes and clothes from all over Europe and was glad to have access to different styles as to what was available in the Benelux. In the Belgian Air Force retirement comes at age 45 if you are a pilot and did not choose to make a career so the last year I took the opportunity to be in the USA for refresher training to pass my exams and obtain my US airline transport rating. When I came back I immediately started converting on an old DC3 Dakota that had been restored in the colors of our King’s aircraft in the 50’s. 

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It was civilian operated now in US (minimal) registrations and they parked it besides my Merlin when I landed from my last Air Force flight to celebrate my transition. The historic air rides never worked well due to friction from the Belgian authorities to operate a foreign registered aircraft on Belgian soil and at the end of the summer the aircraft was grounded and didn’t move for another 6 years. During the winter I kept busy skiing and even started to follow the courses to become an instructor.

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