WIM EN the Aviation Department of obil Oil Hellas won the
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contract for the exclusive supply of fuels to Olympic Airways at Athens airport they had one big problem: It did not have enough aviation refuellers to meet the demand.
The existing refuellers were of American origin and it would take several weeks to ship one to Greece. Again the vehicle would travel as deck cargo and after suffering salt spray would need several days of overhaul before it could go into service.
Representatives of Mobil's Aviation Department in Greece and International Aviation Sales in London saw a solution— buy a refueller which they had seen at Farnborough Air Show last year, similar to the ones Mobil Oil Co. Ltd. uses at Gatwick, and get it to Greece in operating condition as quickly as possible.
The manufacturers were contacted and the vehicle was put on order. When it was made available the only problem was to get it to Greece by the fastest route. This was to drive the 4,000-gallon tanker and its 4,000-gallon trailer to Athens by road.
Enter Mike Lavender, aviation superintendent at Mobil's aviation terminal at Gatwick. Mike joined Mobil in 1959 and as part of his training spent several weeks in Athens studying aviation refuelling at Athens airport. With all these qualifications he was a natural candidate for the job of delivering the refueller in the shortest time.
From then on the story is Mike's. The Gloster Saro Somerset Mark I aircraft refueller—all 57 ft. of it—arrived at Gatwick terminal on Day 1 (a Saturday).
During the next 36 hours the vehicle was gone over from Leyland tractor unit to the stop lights on the 4,000-gallon trailer by Gatwick terminal staff. On Day 3, Mike Lavender left Gatwick at 06.30 on the first stage of an unusual combined operation.
For the first part of the journey Mike had with him as co-driver John Bryant, senior airfield operator from Gatwick. It is compulsory to have a two-man crew for a tanker and trailer. At Newhaven the refueller was loaded on to a car ferry and John Bryant returned to Gatwick.
When the ferry docked in Dieppe, Henri Mesle, Mobil Oil Francaise aviation supervisor at Orly airport, met Mike to cO-drive with him through France. Unfortunately, Day 3 was a public holiday in France and there were delays in obtaining Custom Clearance. The party eventually spent the night in Dieppe and on Day 4 was cleared and drove to Orly airport to stay overnight.
An early start on Day 5, they were on the road at 06.00 and the night was spent at Chamonix in the French Alps. Next day the refueller negotiated mountain roads and Alpine passes and passing through the Mont Blanc Road Tunnel reached the Italian / French border at 12.00 hours.
Again a public holiday, this time Italian, delayed Custom clearance and wasted a day but on the Friday Mike Lavender and the Gloster Saro Somerset entered Italy. Henri Mesle had returned to Paris and Mike was contacted by Mobil Oil Italiana's Turin Bulk Plant Superintendent, Signor Romero.
The Italian driver, Pietro Speranza, a bulk delivery driver from Turin terminal who was to co-drive through Italy, was at Aosta, 30 kilometres from the border.
Mike drove off alone, but Italian regulations also require a two-man crew and he was soon stopped by a mobile patrol of the carabinieri.
"My Italian hadn't even started then," said Mike and frantically tried to get over to the Police that his co-driver was down the road a piece in Aosta. "I showed them all the papers I'd got," said Mike, "including my Pegasus Club membership card and my Barclaycard.
"Eventually they got fed up and very decently allowed me to drive on. They would have been quite justified in stopping me there and then."
When Pietro joined the crew Mike pressed on via Milan to Bologna. They hit Milan in the evening rush hour and amid a hooting mass of traffic got lost. Even this did not worry Mike who stopped the refueller in the middle of Milan. Pietro's English was non-existent (they conversed in French) and Mike's Italian was a bit thin anyway. However, a friendly passerby produced a policeman who stood on the step of the cab for more than a mile-and-a-half and guided them through the city.
On Day 8, after spending the previous night in Bologna, Mike and Pietro drove the big refueller 275 miles down the east coast of Italy to Vast°.
Italian road laws do not permit movement of commercial vehicles on the road's after 09.00 on Sundays and so Day 9 at 05.00 the vehicle was on the move from Vasto heading for Brindisi via Bari. They reached Bari at 09.30 and, in spite of regulations, drove on without trouble to Brindisi when Pietro said goodbye and returned to Turin.
By this time Mike and the refueller were ahead of schedule and had to wait until Day 10 for their reservation on the Adriatic Shipping Co.'s ferry to Greece. Leaving Brindisi at 22.30, the ferry docked at Patras on the Greek mainland at 17.30 on Day 11, eight days after leaving Gatwick.
Members of the Aviation Department from Mobil Oil Hellas met the refueller which was at once impounded by Greek Customs. Next day, with a Customs official on board and the refueller sealed, Mike drove the last bit of his journey to Customs Clearance centre in PiraieuS, Athens, where he handed over his charge.
FOR THE RECORD: Total mileage Gatwick to Piraieus, Athens, 1,432 miles. Total engine running time, 60 hours. Average speed 23.8 m.p.h. Fuel used, 179 gallons
diesel and gallons of oil. Miles per gallon, 8.
COMMENT: "The truck performed extremely well and was a credit to the manufacturers," said Mike Lavender. "Although she was brand new nothing went wrong and all she needed was fuel and oil."