A MEMBER of a dedicated yet unsuccessful aviation dynasty was front page news in the Adver 40 years ago today.

Michael Dolling has already featured in Rewind, having spent much of the 1960s and 1970s developing imaginative human-powered flying machines which sadly didn’t get off the ground.

He may not have soared like the birds, but his sheer determination and optimism won him many admirers, and we’d love to hear more about his exploits.

On Monday, July 22, 1974 he was in the spotlight once more, alongside son Paul.

We wrote: “Wind hampered the flying aspirations of Swindon birdman Mr Michael Dolling and his son, Paul, yesterday at the National Birdman Rally.

“Paul, 15, travelled 17 yards off Selsey Pier in the ornithopter flying machine made by his father. But the wind was already strong and Mr Dolling wouldn’t let Paul jump into the wind in case he was blown against the pier.”

Mr Dolling senior, a 36-year-old fitter who lived in Witshire Avenue, told us: “The commentator said he did very well for a boy of his age and that he was very brave.”

Another unusual front page story ran three days later, when we revealed that a new Morris Minor car was to be assembled in a Swindon showroom window at a cost of £4,000, in spite of the model having been discontinued at the beginning of the decade.

The same sum would have bought a new Jaguar saloon at the time.

“The car,” we said, “has been ordered from Dutton-Forshaw’s garage, Victoria Road, by Mr Rod Law, a 27-year-old claims superintendent at the Swindon office of the Dominion Insurance Company.

“Mr Law has ordered the car for his father, a Yorkshire businessman, who has been driving Minors for 20 years and currently runs a 1970 model – his ninth successive Minor.”

The 500 parts needed to build the Minor were obtained from British Leyland’s spares department, and the plan was to assemble the car in Dutton-Forshaw’s window.

Not all of the news that week was so light-hearted. The recent invasion of Northern Cyprus by Turkey, in response to a military coup on the island by hardline Greek patriots, had prompted holidaymakers to flee and the British military to help in the rescue operation and other humanitarian efforts.

Among those who made it to safety were Roy and Hazel Sims, who had emigrated from Swindon to Australia seven years earlier. Having met on Cyprus, they saved to return on a sentimental journey – only to end up embroiled in an international crisis. We wrote: “Now they are safely back in Britain, staying with Mrs Sims’ aunt in Wootton Bassett, but only a few days ago they were in a huddle of frightened tourists in a Famagusta hotel as bullets flew through the windows.

“‘We thought we were as good as dead,’ said Mrs Sims.

“‘Especially when the Turkish Air Force attacked on Sunday morning.’”

Mr Sims added: “And we had stray shells from the Greeks landing close to the hotel. They weren’t the best of marksmen.”

The couple were airlifted to Fairford by the RAF after getting a lift with a convoy under British Army protection – but not before the hotel manager tried to bill them for the extra days they’d spent cowering in his establishment.

RAF Lyneham’s Hercules were heavily involved in the aftermath of the incident, as we revealed in a story headlined: “Lyneham’s flying grocers.”

We said: “Crates of foodstuffs... half a ton of candles... 1,000lb of baby food... 5,000lb of medical supplies.

“These have been among more than a million pounds of freight airlifted so far to Cyprus by the RAF.

“And by late yesterday the RAF had airlifted 4,000 tourists of 36 nationalities in 66 sorties from Cyprus to Fairford and Lyneham.

“And when people step back on British soil, the RAF is again on hand. At RAF Lyneham, station wives have found more than 800 spare beds in married quarters for anyone wishing to stay the night.”

Another major story that week was about the forthcoming high speed passenger train which would eventually be known as the Inter-City 125.

An Adver reporter rode on the footplate of a prototype, described the crucial role of drivers, compared their responsibilities with those of airline pilots and highlighted poor wages.

“At £33 a week,” he wrote, “not many people are coming into the job and men who used to feel they were well off are now feeling the pinch.”

The Adver scribe who wrote this rather sympathetic piece?

Future scourge of the left Peter Hitchens.

IN OTHER NEWS...

MONDAY, JULY 22, 1974: “WHEN Swindon man Christopher James won a date with a girl in a raffle, he little dreamt that 18 months later he’d be marrying her. But that’s just what happened. Christopher won his date in a raffle run by the Swindon Phoenix Car Club. His bride, Marion Evans, is a member of the club too. But they haven’t had much time to rally since they were thrown together. ‘We’ve been too busy decorating our new house,’ said Marion.” 
 

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1974: “SWINDON area X-ray staff today started their three-day industrial action in the hospitals in support of the national pay campaign of the Society of Radiographers. There will be an emergency service only in the Swindon group of hospitals until Friday. Patients who would normally have routine X-rays or treatment are aware of the situation, said district administrator Mr AE McIntyre. It will affect both in-patients and out-patients. A reduced number of radiographers are standing by to deal with emergencies. ‘The management has been sympathetic,’ said Mr Peter Jennings, spokesman for the radiographers.” 
 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1974: “A SWINDON fish and chip shop owner is to have a full-scale military funeral in Northern Italy – because he was an Italian war hero. Ubaldo Marina ran the Byron Fish Restaurant in Wellington Street, Swindon, until his death. And because Mr Marina spent more than 20 years in the Italian Air Force, collecting several decorations – including two Iron Crosses – the Italian Air Force flew his body back to his home in the province of Massacarrara, according to his father-in-law, Renaldo Stefani. Mr Marina, who reached the rank of Mareschiallo-maggiore in the air force, was shot down in a Savoy-Mecetti torpedo bomber in the Mediterranean during the war.” 
 

THURSDAY, JULY 25, 1974: “A TUNEFUL surprise greeted Thamesdown’s music adviser Bill Davies when he opened the door of Richard Jefferies School yesterday. Bill thought he was paying a visit to the caretaker there, but when he stepped inside he was confronted with 38 members of the Swindon Junior Orchestra, their parents and their musical instruments. The children were playing a piece written by Bill, which helped lead the orchestra to an outstanding performance award at the Music for Youth Festival in Croydon last weekend.” 
 

FRIDAY, JULY 26, 1974: “A CALL from Swindon Labour MP Mr David Stoddart for cheap television licenses to be extended to all pensioners who do not live with their families has been rejected by Home Secretary Mr Roy Jenkins. Mr Stoddart and Mr Charles Loughlin (Lab, West Glos) earlier had called for the move in talks with Home Office Minister of State Mr Alex Lyon.”