The Goldfish Club
- By Richard Branson -
- Apr 09, 2012
Proud to be the newest member of the Goldfish Club.
The club is exclusively for pilots who have been forced to bail out over water. I have a bit of experience with that myself from my ballooning adventures, most notably during our Atlantic crossing, in the Irish Sea, the Pacific crossing, on a frozen lake in the Arctic, and an around the world attempt in the Pacific! So it is a real pleasure to become an honorary member of the club.
It has the expressed aim of keeping "alive the spirit of comradeship arising from the mutual experience of members surviving, "coming down in the drink", and includes brave people who have ditched from planes, helicopters and even an oil rig!
There are lots of true heroes from World War Two and later in the Goldfish Club, which was formed in 1942. The author Danny Danziger has written a book about their story - it is well worth a read.
After speaking with Danny he is now going to give ballooning a go himself, with Virgin Balloon Flights. Have a great flight, and thanks again to the inspiring members of the Goldfish Club.
By Richard Branson. Founder of Virgin Group
