Maisie on ‘Cloud 9’ after dream day drive with RAF

It is more than 50 years since Maisie Crawford’s hopes were dashed - she was just too tiny to become an Army driver.

However, since Friday the plucky 72-year-old has been flying high thanks to the Royal Air Force 502 Aux Squadron at Aldergrove Flying Station, who let the former WRAC Private get behind the wheel of a massive six-ton MAN-SV truck - thereby helping Maisie fulfil a lifetime ambition.

Notwithstanding the fact that Maisie was still too tiny to actually drive the monster truck, and had to content herself with sitting at the wheel learning about the vehicle’s capabilities before being given a conducted tour of the station by Corporal Baz Melody, Maisie has been on Cloud Nine since her trip.

“I did not sleep very much the night before and was getting my kit all ready for two days before, and making sure everything was alright,” she said.

Boarding the 7.10am train to Antrim, Maisie was met by a press officer, Gary Hill...

“When I got off the train nobody was on the platform for me, so I went outside and somebody said ‘You must be Maisie’. I said ‘You must be Gary’ and he said ‘Yes’,” said Maisie, relating how she was escorted to a car along with her daughter Lynne for the short journey to RAF Aldergrove.

“We were taken to Aldergrove to the Flying Station and Gary introduced me to Squadron Leader Jacs Rankin and she explained who she was and said ‘We have got a little launch in progress and I would like you and your daughter to come to it’. It turns out Friday was the reforming of 502 Squadron, which originally formed in 1926 but disbanded.

“At this event there were some people who took part in the flying of the old aircraft that were there, and they also had two Tornados flown in. What a sight! I was along with a group of dignitaries that were there,” said Maisie brimming with excitement at the memories.

Treated like a queen for the day, Maisie described her feelings: “I was on top of the world, no plane that day flew higher than my feelings at that particular point in time. The officers all made me feel very welcome and all the dignitaries came up to me afterwards and introduced themselves to me. People flew in from other parts of the UK to take part in the reforming of 502 Squadron, and I got friendly with some of the ones from Norfolk who were Warrant Officers.”

Invited to have a drink and take part in the buffet, the moment arrived that Maisie had waited for for over 50 years...but it didn’t go quite to plan.

As those of you who know Maisie know well, she takes her time telling a story, and the real reason for her visit to RAF Aldergrove was not the reforming of 502 Squadron, it was to achieve her lifetime ambition to drive a military truck...and what a surprise she got when Squadron Leader Jacs Rankin approached her and asked her to step outside...

“Jacs came and said ‘Right, come you with me Maisie’ and I followed her outside. Then she said ‘There’s your vehicle’. I just stood there and looked and then I said ‘In honour to God how am I ever going to get up in that?’ And Jacs said ‘We will sort something out’.”

That’s when the giggles started.

Like a scene from a comedy show Maisie was pushed and pulled from both ends as she struggled to get into the cab of the monster truck. Her daughter, Jacs and un-named others pushed while a young officer climbed into the cab from the other side and grabbed Maisie’s hands and pulled for all he was worth.

Standing up to illustrate the height of the cab in relation to her eyeline, Maisie said: “The seat itself was above my eyeline. I said to myself ‘How am I going to get up there?’ My daughter put one of my feet on the first step, and they tried to push me up. Another chap went round the other side and they pushed me while he pulled,” she said, eyes brimming with tears as she laughed.

“You should have seen that for an operation. How they got me in there I will never know,” she said recalling how everyone was in stitches as Maisie was manhandled until her backside made it onto the driver’s seat.

The humour did not stop there. Determined to get Maisie mobile, the truck driver and other officers lowered the seat, lowered it some more, kept on making downward and forward adjustments, desperate to get Maisie close to the controls, and then ratcheted the cogs to their lowest settings, but still Maisie’s little feet dangled from the seat like a five-year-old sitting on an adult’s chair.

“It was like sitting in a big room, the windscreen surrounded me and I could not even sit for back enough in the seat to rest my back. My legs were dangling down and my feet were about nine inches off the floor. We were all killing ourselves laughing and my feet did not reach the pedals no matter how hard they tried to bring the seat down and forward.

“So the moral of this story is that even over 50 years later Maisie is still too small and her feet still do not touch the pedals.”

Photographed from some very unflattering angles, Maisie insisted that the official photographer for the day, Nick Egan, take a shot showing how her feet were still too far from the controls, declaring ‘This photo is a must!’

“I was grinning from ear to ear,” Maisie said, not in the least upset that she had, in truth, failed in her mission to drive.

“My driving instructor Corporal Baz Melody was great, but he was gutted that I could not do it. Health and safety prevented him from tying blocks to my feet so I could reach the pedals. But it did not matter to me. I was there, in a big truck, looking all round me. Thon machine was something, I could not describe the feeling of sitting up there looking round me. There was nothing flying higher that day than my feelings, not even the Tornado jets, and I just want to thank everybody from the bottom of my heart for a great day. Everyone went out of their way to make me feel special. I had my picture taken I don’t know how many times and I had a fantastic buffet and it was a privilege for me to have someone so nice to try and teach me and help me,” she said of Squadron Leader Jacs and Corporal Baz Melody.

Turning to me, Maisie - a life member of the WRAC Associaion - looked at me in all honesty and said: “So, Olga, what’s next?”

I honestly don’t know Maisie... how about afternoon tea with The Queen perhaps?

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