European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 02, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 20 the stars and stripes Friday september 2, 1977 Freddi Laker the Man whose sky train Shook up the airline business 4�m 4$ by Donald m. Mcnicoll associated press Reddie Laker once swept the floors and made the Tea in a British aircraft factory. Now he reckons his airline s walk on no frills flights across the Atlantic will net him $1.7 million in just one year. His is a Success Story All right a real life rags to riches tale made even More phenomenal because he did it in the airline business where Competition is keen and government regulation abundant. His latest adventure the Low fare sky train transatlantic flights that begin sept.26 is the product of five years of Wrang Ling with american and British airlines and regulators. For that Success he collected this year s British National free Enterprise award and at the presentation before a gathering of London businessmen his tanned face was beaming. It was the smile of a Winner. Winning is probably just the will to survive some of As Are made like that he says. Most people regard failure As a personal affront. I have grows out of this. I accept that occasions we fail. I know that if i succeed just once More than the times i fail them 1 have  his sky train project will Appeal to the  tickets Are Only $100.30 from Britain to new York depending on the current Exchange rate and $135 from new York to Britain. On sky train you bring your own Coffee flask he said. You pay extra if you want meals drinks or films on the flight. But you get a seat on a plane going across the Atlantic at the lowest possible Cost. We Are catering to Ordinary people the forgotten people the have not who have a right to travel at our Low  he figures that 80 per cent of those who will use the sky train will belong to the Knapsack and guitar brigade on univer sity campuses who want to travel but cannot afford Normal airline fares. Laker 55, started out in life very much a have not but today he is a millionaire. He and his american wife Patricia from Oklahoma own a Rolls Royce a Home in the country a Villa in Spain a string of racehorses and the 70-foot motor yacht Cutinella. Laker was an Only child and when he was still quite Young his father deserted his Mother. She became the breadwinner by running a junkyard and later a general store. She and Freddie lived in a four roomed House with an outside toilet. No one should Ever have to live that Way he said. When he was 16, Laker got a Job As a Tea boy and sweeper in shorts aircraft fac tory at Rochester 30 Miles Southeast of London. During world War ii nazi planes bombed the factory. Laker then joined the Royal air Force transport auxiliary and ferried planes into War zones. After the War armed with his civil flying License he worked for British euro Pean airways now part of Britain s state owned British airways. Then he started up on his in in the spare parts business buying and sell ing aviation and Auto surplus. That began his climb to the top. In 1948, for $140,000, much of it borrowed from a wartime Friend he bought the old state owned British overseas airways corporation s entire Fleet of a dozen converted Halifax bombers known As Hal tons plus hundreds of tons of spare parts. The Halton carried 10 passengers and had a Pannier underneath for cargo. Laker sold six of the halons then oper ated the other six through 15 months of the Berlin Airlift organized by the Western Powers to beat the soviet blockade of the divided former German capital. With the Money he made in that venture Laker kept buying surplus aircraft and spares and when the Airlift ended he owned something like 100 planes and about 6,000 aircraft engines. He kept some of the planes and sold the rest. The engines he broke up and smelted into ingots which he sold to a Saucepan  1953, he formed the Channel air Bridge co. For flying cars and passengers Between Britain and Europe. When this company was merged with others to form British United airways Laker became managing director of the new company and turned it into Britain s leading Independent and highly Profita ble airline. Came 1966, and Laker having quit British United created his own airline Laker airways launched of april fool s Day. It was no fool s move. Just Over a decade later although he says talking about Money is rather sordid Laker put the value of Laker air ways and its associated companies at $110.5 million. He said he had invested $53.5 million in sky train planes including Pilot training. It s my Money at risk he emphasized. Laker has five bail los two Boeing 707s, and three wide bodied Clos. He carries More than a million Passen Gers a year. The bulk of the business is in Advance booking Charters on the North Atlantic run where Laker insists he is bigger than the state owned British air ways. In 1969, Laker airways became Britain s first All Jet airline when Laker acquired two Boeing 707s to replace two Bristol Bri tannins he had sold to indonesian civil air transport. Six airlines including pan american and trans world have agreed on new transatlantic fares to compete with Laker s sky train although the details of their special Low fare flights differ. In Laker s View Britain should beware of the United states and draw lessons from american opposition to the concorde supersonic jetliner which he described As the equivalent of the american Moon shot. I am of the opinion that we should not Trust the americans an Inch. They believe they have a divine right to control All Avia Tion. We mucked everything up by Pussy footing with the americans Over concorde. My View is that there should be no restrictions at All on concorde and that aircraft should operate normally and properly under the terms of the International air ser vice agreement As required by the British and  Freddie Laker one Ever seems to Call him by his fall name Frederick has had a few hard things to say about various government officials. Bums is one term he has used. Not surprisingly government people tend to have mixed views about him sometimes admiration sometimes apprehension. Said Clinton Davies Britain s Trade under Secretary i admit to having been a Little critical of or. Laker. But i should Point out that he is a beguiling successful character a Man of considerable enthusiasm and Zeal whom All of us greatly Admire. That does not mean that one necessarily must accept the conclusion of the arguments that head ducks so  by Erma bomb cd at wits end boy the egyptians had the right idea. When they went they took it All with them right to the Tomb. A few have tried to revive the  was a woman in new Jersey who was buried with her Telephone. Talk about cruel her husband included a 75foot Extension Cord there was a golfer in Florida who requested he be buried with his clubs on the first Green. His will said he always wanted a permanent Hole in  a couple of months ago in California woman requested she be buried in her lace Nightgown at the wheel of her Ferrari with the seat slanted  it got me to thinking Why should i leave my untold wealth to a second wife let her amass her own Fortune like i did. That is Why i am insisting that the following items go with me when i go. My Book of Sitters Telephone numbers this is a first edition that i Wear at All times taped to my Bra. I have kids in there who will work for 50 cents an hour and All the food that does t attack them first. Also a Sweet Little elderly woman who cleans the oven when i m gone and one woman who believes there is no such thing As a Rotten kid. He just needs a Laxa  letter from the Book club telling me of my cancellation you can t buy letters like this and it took me four years of correspondence plus the Purchase of a Xerox machine to get it. Besides i Don t want to take any chances. If they keep sending me books i be got proof. The television warranty let her go crazy trying to explain she knows there is still a year or so to go on the picture tube but she just can t find the serial number and it sounds crazy but the first wife took it with her. An 1811 antique hat pin this Little antique is unequalled in value and hard to replace. It s the Only thing that unlocks the bathroom door from the outside when one of the kids has been in there a Day and a half. One half of a master s degree my Hus band earned it but half of it is mine under Community property. It represented our trip to Europe a new sofa screens on the Back porch a Sailboat and a garbage com Pressor. Page from the sewing machine manual on How to thread the Bobbin of my old machine. After All he did t Promise her a Rose Garden and if she s everything she told him she is Shell figure it out in a year or two. Eighteen books of Green Stamps i did t buy specials on Day old fish and survive 180 double stamp Days of combat just to have the second wife get the Ping Pong table. If i can t feel the exhilaration of turning in All of those books at the redemption Center no one else will. The rest she can have. The kids wheat every three hours the husband who if she Cooks Dinosaur Hocks with Green Beans for dinner had it for lunch. The Lemon scented House in the suburbs. She can even have my car. Of course i la take along the Only set of keys for it c Field enterprises inc