George to Cranwell

Queen Elizabeth does not fly because she is afraid of becoming airsick. George VI dislikes flying and the Cabinet does not want him in the air. As a result, any air trip of the King becomes a national event and the King's pilot--Captain of the King's Flight--holds one of the softest jobs in England.

George VI had been up once before as King (90 miles from Windsor to Martlesham Heath) when last week he stepped into his scarlet and blue twin-engined Airspeed Envoy. From Sandringham he flew 60 miles to Cranwell, Lincolnshire, to inspect, as Marshal of the Royal Air Force, one of the nation's military aviation colleges. Ponderously, an official announcement said the King would "enplane"* for the trip back to Sandringham. Said British dispatches afterward: "The nation breathed easier tonight when it learned over the wireless that King George had completed safely in blustery conditions his return flight. . . ."

* "Enplane" appeared in print 15 years ago in England as emplane, was Americanized into its present easier form, means "to board an aircraft."

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