“Peter Gericke loved airplanes as some men love horses, with a deep and unswerving passion.”

From Jack Higgins The Eagle Has Landed

Pete’s ambition to have an airfield in his backyard never took in the fact it would end in flames. Heartbroken he left the aircraft remains where it landed and allowed nature to reclaim it. He advertised and created a tourist destination. People came in droves, and he became filthy rich.

A souvenir stall was set up with miniature replicas of the plane, T-shirts and fridge magnets, and an audio-visual display of the planes ill-fated flight. No one survived, but you could buy plastic figures of each crew member. Some thought this in bad taste, but Pete was a businessman.

He had been warned the landing strip was too short, but Pete was ever confident. The plane crashed and ended up across the third tee of his planned golf course. It was all history now, and he had labelled his park, ‘A Place of Failed Dreams’ and his business boomed.

Written for: https://debbiewhittam.wordpress.com/2018/06/14/50-word-thursday-5/