Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2020 20:16:37 +0000
From: Chris Johns <chris-johns@hotmail.com>
Subject: Fly Boys Chapter 1

This story is 7 chapters long running to 18,741 words. Long on friendship
and love, short on sex. The boys are fourteen at the beginning of the story
but sixteen before any sex is introduced.

Fly Boys
Chapter 1

Robbie first really noticed them when he started walking across the field
on a regular basis. The old hanger on the opposite side of the airfield to
the main areas was his new project. He wanted a home for his aircraft,
under cover, so he was having it renovated to hold his aircraft
collection. He realised that he had seen them before, usually when he was
taxiing from the regular dispersal to the holding point prior to take off.

The `them' were about half a dozen boys. They were usually lying along the
perimeter fence just off to one side of the approach path for the runway.
Robbie guessed them to be just into their teens.

Thinking back he clicked that they were there every weekend during school
time and often during the week on school holidays provided it was dry
underfoot, and they had been doing it for a couple of years.

The reason for Robbie's new awareness was that his parents had been killed
in an accident a few months ago and he had only just started the recovery
from his grief. This new awareness was because he was, suddenly, a very
wealthy young man who would be able to do almost anything he wanted to for
the remainder of his life, also he was now a lonely young man because of
his changed circumstances. He was 19 years old and holder of a commercial
aeroplane licence. His love of flying was what had saved his sanity at the
loss of his parents. He had no desire to be an airline pilot, he just loved
to fly whenever he wanted to, and only in small aircraft. He usually had a
smile on his face whenever he heard people call the little birds, `puddle
jumpers'. He was quite happy to take his little twin prop across to the
continent. It was the most fun when he had a couple of school mates with
him. Now that was all over. The mates were all off to university at the end
of the summer and were making new liaisons now. Robbie was going to study
business management, but working under his company's C.E.O., hands on
rather than theoretical.

His love of flying had been indulged by his parents, and at eighteen he
owned two aeroplanes, a single engine Piper Cherokee and a twin Beechcraft
King Air 350. Also he had just bought a vintage Tiger Moth which was being
renovated. When he had all three he wanted them under cover, hence his own
hangar.

Looking over the hangar now, he was pleased with the progress. The shell
had all been cleaned and repaired. The electrical rewiring was almost
complete as well. The next job, he knew, was just manual labour to clean
the place up before having the portacabins attached to the sides of the
hangar. With their strengthened roofs they would carry all his spares and
other equipment needed to service all three birds, the majority of the
interior after installation of the portacabins for office and workshops
would be for his aircraft. He didn't want the hangar floor cluttered with
equipment, he was going to have that painted white and kept pristine. He
had special trays made to slide under the aircraft when work was being
carried out so that no oil or other waste would fall on the floor
directly. While he was addressing that idea, he thought about the boys.  `I
could pay them to do the manual clean up if they wanted to earn some pocket
money, and they would get close to the aircraft which I'm sure they would
love,' was his thought.

Walking back across the field, Robbie went straight to the car park and
hopped into his SUV, which he normally used when driving to the airfield
because he could drop the seats and dump any equipment he liked into its
cavernous interior. He drove round the outside of the perimeter fence until
he was behind the point where the boys were lying. Hopping out of the wagon
he approached them and called to them.

"Hey, guys."

Before he could say anything else they were up and running. He was fast
enough to catch hold of one of them.

"Please, don't run away. I only wanted to ask you if you would like to earn
some pocket money working in my hangar."

He felt the boy relax so he eased his hold and made another comment.

"I might even be able to fit in a flight for you as well."

That was enough. The boy stopped struggling, looked up at Robbie and gasped
out, "Honestly, Mister? We aren't in trouble?"

"Honestly, and of course you aren't in trouble, you're not doing anything
wrong here."

Robbie looked up and saw the other five stood a few yards off ready to
continue their escape if needed.

"Tell your friends it's ok and if you all get together I can tell you my
ideas for you."

He didn't know what those ideas were really, he just wanted them to come
and help him.

Six slightly nervous boys gathered round Robbie while he told them.

"I'm renovating the old hangar across the airfield and I now need some
manual labour to help clean it up so that we can finish the installation
and get my aircraft in it. If you would like to help me, I'll pay you and
we can talk about me taking you up for a flight as well."

It was quite obvious from their dress that there wasn't much money in their
families. They were pretty scruffy and the clothes were old. So, Robbie was
surprised that they didn't even mention the money only the flight.

"Ok, do any of you have to go to church in the morning?"

Six heads shook and said `no'.

"OK, and can all of you work all day for me?"

Six, `yes's', followed that.

"Do you all live with your parents, and would they sign a release to let
you fly with me tomorrow afternoon?"

"Oh yes, Mister, but you would have to come with us to ask them."

"Alright, let's do it now. Hop in my wagon and we'll go back to the
airfield to get release forms and then I'll drive you all home to get them
signed. Job done and you meet me at the main gate tomorrow morning at 0900,
ok."

Six nodding heads again.

Robbie thought this was going to be fun. The boys were almost bubbling over
at the thought of going flying.

The boys parents were on the border line of destitute, all living in a
small hamlet close to the airfield in sub-standard accommodation. Robbie
took a bit of a grilling from a couple of them, but ended up with six
release forms signed allowing the boys to go flying with him the next day.
Back at the airfield the boys were surprised to be taken to the clothing
store and fitted out with work clothes, just overalls and shoes for the
hangar.

"You will get pretty dirty the first few days you work for me so what we
are going to do is get you clothed for it, and at the end of the work day
you can shower and get back into your street clothes. I'll have your work
clothes laundered overnight so they'll be clean for you every day."

The boys all thought that was great and were dressed in their Sunday best
when Robbie picked them up the next morning. `Sunday best', wasn't very
good but Robbie was tickled pink by it.

He had spent the Saturday afternoon buying stiff brooms to sweep the
hangar, and huge double strength black bags to hold all the rubbish, which
would go into the skips at the end of the day. He knew that it would take
them all day just to carry out that task.

"Ok, hop into the club locker room and change. All of your street clothes
into the two lockers I have left open for you."

Job done and they drove across the field to Robbie's hangar. The boys were
mouths agape as they heard Robbie talking to the tower to be allowed to
cross the active runway.

The boys were a little taken back when they saw the mess they were expected
to clear up.

Robbie started them at one end of the hangar, issued them all with face
masks to filter out the dust and told them the score.

"You work an hour, rest for ten minutes. During the ten minutes we'll
talk. Three hours work and then I feed you. Two hours work this afternoon
and then I will take you for a half hour flight. Three at a time. Sound
ok?"

Six excited, `yes's', and still no mention of money.

The boys raised a dust storm, which fortunately blew away ahead of them,
Robbie having opened the hangar doors at both ends and got them sweeping
downwind.  Ten minute break and Robbie got to know their aims.

"None of you have mentioned money, but I presume you would like me to pay
you?"

Five of the boys looked at the one who was patently the leader.

"We aren't worried about the money, Mister, if you will give us a flight
sometimes."

"All of you feel the same way?"

"Yeah, we became friends because we all want to be pilots. Of course we
know that is never going to happen because we don't have any money and
never will have in time to pay for all the hours we'll need for a licence."
Further questions elicited the information that the boys knew all of the
details about how to become a pilot. A pretty daunting figure came up at
the end as far as cost went.

That got Robbie thinking.

"Ok, I won't promise you anything but here is an idea. You work for me for
one day, and I pay you one flying hour. Or, I'll pay you £5 an hour,
no flying."

"We'll take the flying. That means if we work for you for 45 days we will
have done enough hours for a Private Pilot's Licence."

Robbie laughed.

"Yes, in principle, provided you do them with an instructor and you would
have to pay for all the ground school as well because there is a load of
theory you must learn. Airmanship, Air law, Aerodynamics, Navigation,
Meteorology, to name just a few of the subjects. Then, you need a student
pilot licence and a basic medical, at the end you have to pay for all the
exams and the flight test with an approved examiner, finally, your full
medicals and the cost of your licence."

The boys hadn't factored in those costs making the final total totally
beyond anything they could expect to have.

 "We know most of that, but we thought we could do the theory on the
net. We can always use school computers."

"Yes, well you probably could but you would definitely need an instructor
as well."

The boys looked a little downcast.

"Ok, I'm an assistant instructor so I can do your flight training and your
ground school. I'll work out some deal with you about ground school so
that's it. We are going to work towards a PPL for each of you?"

"Oh yes please."  Robbie was delighted at the enthusiasm of these six
urchins.  Back to work and the kids were a pleasure to watch. There was no
slacking, and at the next rest break, Robbie introduced himself and got the
reciprocal.

"My name is Robbie Heston, you call me Robbie. Now, who are you six, and
how old are you?"

The obvious leader spoke first.

"I'm Tyler and I'm fourteen, nearly fifteen."

"I'm Nathaniel and I'm just fourteen."

The other four were all fourteen as well and their names nearly had Robbie
in hysterics. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Matt was the comedian.

"Yeah, our parents are all friends and when I popped out I was Matt, the
others picked up the other names in order of birth, so I'm the eldest of
the four and John is the youngest, but our parents are heathens so don't
ask me why."

That was too much, they were all still laughing when they went back to
work.

Lunch time and they had a rough clean up using the water from an attached
hose, and then they gorged on all the goodies that Robbie produced from a
hamper. Drink was all fresh fruit juice or milk. The food was all
wholesome, except the crisps.

"If you are going to be professional pilots you need to eat well, drink
sensibly, workout and keep very fit. If you do your training with me you
follow my regime on that score, no back sliding. Ok?"

No dissent from any one.

End of the day and Robbie took the boys back to the flying club, produced
shower gel and shampoo before sending all six off to the showers.

"I'll be waiting for you when you come back. I want your overalls and
shoes. I'll get them all cleaned for you to wear again."

When six naked boys were stood in front of him again, all dripping wet with
their dirty clothes clutched to cover their nakedness, Robbie did a double
take and then sniggered before speaking.

"I guess you'll have to shake yourselves dry."

Of course he didn't mean it. Reaching into the locker beside the two that
the boys clothes were in he produced a bunch of towels.

"Sorry, I forgot about these."

Not showing any embarrassment they all dropped their clothes in front of
Robbie and stood drying themselves.

Looking them up and down, Robbie gasped. They were all gorgeous, he
realised. Just blossoming into young men. If he put a little more meat on
their bones he thought he could get into trouble with any of them.

Tyler was the most street smart of the six, which was probably why he had
sprung up as the leader of his little gang, not just because he was the
oldest. He noticed Robbie's look and correctly deduced that this benefactor
was gay. Now he had to find out if the offer of the flying was so that he
could indulge his peccadillo. `Oh God, I hope not,' was his thought. The
boys all wanted this fairy godfather to be for real. They all knew that
being pilots was a pipe dream that this man could make come true.

All dressed again and Robbie took them out to the dispersal and straight to
his old Piper Cherokee. He had learnt to fly in this and his father had
bought it from the flying school as a present for him when he had passed
his flight check for his PPL. He showed them how to approach it if the
propeller was turning, how to get in without treading where they shouldn't
and how to fasten their seat belts. The two that would be sat in the
co-pilot seat on the two trips were warned about keeping their feet clear
of the pedals and their hands off the controls.

The second three were sent back to the buildings.

"Watch us from the lounge. When you see the first three get clear of the
plane, wait for a thumbs up from me and then come in, keeping behind the
wing."

The half hour flight was just a series of circuits and bumps, (landing but
not rolling to a stop,) accelerating away again. Robbie pointed out land
marks that they would use when they started to fly, and the boys spotted
their own homes as well.

The total delight and awe shown by the boys gave Robbie such a good
feeling, he couldn't remember being this happy, even for a moment, since
his parents had died.

The ground crew took charge of the Piper and Robbie took the boys through
to a classroom at the school.

"I don't have to ask if you enjoyed that so listen to this proposal. If you
would like a flying licence, I will make sure you get one, but."

He looked at each boy, noting the anticipation and uncertainty about what
he was going to say next.

"We have the whole summer and I have no plans to go away, so, if you will
devote every day to me, obeying my orders, following all of the routines I
give you, not giving me any shit and then giving me your free time after
school when you start back, I will make sure that by this time next year
you all have the qualifications for a PPL. You can't actually hold the
licence until you are seventeen, but you can log all your hours from
fourteen years old. We can keep building your hours and then when you are
seventeen we may have enough so that you can sit the extra exams and go
straight to a commercial licence. You disobey me, give me any stick, balk
at anything I ask you to do for me and you leave the programme. Do you all
agree to those terms?"

Of course they did, but Tyler was into protective mode now.

"What sort of things will you order us to do, and will you always have us
together?"

"Besides flying, I will want to make sure you are up to standard
academically so you will obey me when it comes to school work. Yes, Tyler,
I will frequently have you one to one, both for flying and ground training.
Tomorrow if you are all free I will pick you up and take you to my house. I
am going to start you on a keep fit routine and we will use my gym whenever
possible. If one of you needs more work than the others I'll try to find
time to take you out to the house by yourselves, the same will apply to
ground school and your normal school subjects. I'm not a clever clogs but I
was an A* student."

Tyler thought he could only wait and quiz his friends when one to one
happened.

"To save me saying the same thing twice, if I take you home now could all
your parents get to one house for me to tell them what I am proposing for
you?"

No problem so Robbie drove them home, got all the parents in one house and
told them what he was doing.

"I will have a lot of ongoing need for labour to work in the hangar and on
my aircraft. I could pay regular labourers, but by paying the boys in
flying hours I get the same result."

The parents were as sceptical as Tyler with regard to Robbie's intentions,
but the boys were so enthusiastic that they all agreed to him carrying out
his programme. He finally sold them on his plan by telling them that he
loved to just fly, but the pleasure was greater having someone with him,
that was why he had become an instructor. Of course he had to explain how
he had managed it at such a young age.

3171

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