"Almost" Part 20: Book 2, Part 10

Tom’s Flying School

Within six months, Tom had to hire a secretary. He did not have a natural head for figures or schedules, but had found an activity he loved so much that his natural charisma – already strong – flowed even faster and deeper.

He loved to fly. He had graduated from gliders quite quickly. He received his pilot’s license within two months of returning from Germany; three months after that, he was a certified instructor.

He was self-financed. In January of 1934, he bought a new Beechcraft Staggerwing biplane. He advertised around town on lampposts, and flew a sign behind his aeroplane over horse-races, upper-class picnics and garden parties, hoping to snag young men with bravado and trust funds. The sign read:

“First Flight Free! Fly the wild skies! Hendon 4576.”

And they came. They came, at first, out of curiosity, to say that they had been up in an aeroplane. But Tom knew, from his days as an athlete, how important the element of dash was in presentation. So he let his hair grow longer, bought a number of white silk scarves, two creaky leather bomber jackets, and let his stubble grow artfully. He allowed a little more ‘Oxford’ into his accent, and cultivated a fairly dashing demeanour of ‘what was swotting at school compared to buzzing around above the clouds?’ Envy and charisma are two crucial ingredients in early entrepreneurial sales; Tom had natural charm, and could evoke great envy.

One other ingredient also helped to bring great early success his way, and that was his sense of doom.

Death is the ultimate liberator; that is one of life’s deepest secrets. Tom genuinely believed that he had – and the civilized world had – only about five more years to live. He had come to this conclusion – or, rather, his instincts gave him this timeframe – but he found that he was not alone in this. He read in ‘The Times’ that the Defense Requirements Committee felt the same way; they said that Germany was England’s eventual enemy, and that Germany would probably be ready for war in about five years...