THE FEAR OF FLYING
FROM TUPELO TO MEMPHIS
Article - Elvis History
The higher we rise, the more fearful it is to fall, the higher fame is fortune, even more fearful to lose everything in an instant... to think that everything is a dream and that it can vanish like smoke. Although the reality is different, everything can seem difficult and risky and staying with our feet on the ground, makes us gain our security to be able to preserve what we have achieved.
Elvis was the most famous artist of the moment, his assured success made him have more commitments, continue with his performances, travel.
But his internal fears sometimes made him lose confidence in himself or in his surroundings, thinking that everything could disappear in a moment. It is very possible that for this reason at this time in his life, he had a fear of flying, which had taken root in him.
At the end of August 1957 Elvis had to perform some concerts in Spokane, Washington, so he would have to travel. But he had decided not to travel by plane again, because he wanted to travel by train. There were several reasons not to do it by car or plane, the first being the death of his "Jailhouse Rock" co-star, Judy Tyler.
She died a month before on the road with her husband, this affected Elvis a lot. Traveling by car would be tiring and uncomfortable because of the distance, and besides, he had been in a car accident.
The reason for not traveling by plane was even clearer, Elvis had flown many times during the year 1957, he flew to Shreveport, New York, Norfolk, Tampa, Nashville, etc etc, also on vacation at home, but he had developed a special fear of flying.
He had promised his mother that he would only fly if strictly necessary. But it would be before this date in August, so Elvis had had to suffer his fear inconsolably on airplanes this year and the year before.
There were also too many accidents and he had suffered some upset, the first time would be April 13, 1956. Elvis and his musicians took a charter plane in Amarillo to fly to Nashville, where they had a recording session scheduled for the next morning. The reason was that the pilot made an unplanned landing on a runway near El Dorado, Arkansas. He had taken off with one of the fuel tanks empty and the plane's engine was noisy and it died, although it was an unpleasant experience to recover later.
The scare was very big and when Elvis got off the plane he told Scotty Moore and Bill Black that he didn't know if he would fly again... He had another scare later, but the important thing is that Elvis no longer wanted to get on a plane and would choose the train to travel, despite the kilometers and fatigue.
He had discovered that traveling by train gave him more privacy, even though he spent more time and was more tired.
On a plane he would have spent a few hours, but it would take two full days. Elvis could afford to occupy an entire Pullman car for his own protection, that of his friends and companions, and thus isolate himself from the train's passengers and crowds.
The truth is that for a long time, Elvis would avoid air travel, for almost three and a half years. When he had to act he would travel all over the United States by train, also by sea, he would cross the ocean by ship to Hawaii and the Atlantic Ocean to Europe to do his military service when he went to Germany.
But he would not fly again until March 2, 1960, when he flew from Germany via Scotland to Fort Dix, New Jersey, at the end of his two Army tours.
It was complicated to do all this, due to the schedules in the performances, stages, performing in different cities every day.
But the biggest hurdle was dealing with the fans that would sometimes clog the station when he arrived in a city.
In the 60's and 70's he would have his own bus to travel with.
Over time, Elvis realized that he was safer than before traveling by plane. He would leave that fear behind and fly again, even buy his own planes to travel with, like the Convair 880 "Lisa Marie"...
Elvis would once again walk through the sky as a Star.
'Following the Path of the King...'
#detupeloamemphis #elvispresley1957
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