A FLIGHT OF FANCY by Chris Mills* Sea Journey The weather was cool but dry when Lee Oswald boarded the 51,000 ton liner "Liberte" off the coast of Le Havre, France.(l) The "Liberte" was en-route from New York to Southampton, England. As the next port of call was to be Southampton, Lee Oswald had booked passage for what was to be a relatively short trip across the busy waters of the English Channel. It is possible that the ship did not leave the le Havre area until the early hours of the 9 October 1959. Even though Oswald's passport shows an embarkation date of 8 October, he may well have checked in through customs late on the night of the eighth, but not departed the port for several hours. This was Oswald's so called defection to the Soviet Union. He had left New Orleans on the "SS Marion Lykes" bound for Le Harve. From here he would make his way through England and Finland to Moscow where he would attempt to renounce his US citizenship. The great ship chugged its way slowly across the narrow straight separating Britain and France, arriving at "Cowes Roads" (deep water outside the harbour's mouth) in the mid-afternoon of the 9th October. If a vessel was particularly large with few passengers to transfer, it was often considered uneconomic to waste valuable time negotiating Southampton Water to dock at the port itself. Instead, as was the case this day, the ship would anchor offshore in the "Cowes Roads" and small tugs would be sent out to collect passengers and any small items of freight. Oswald arrived on the British mainland at either 7.50 p.m. (the Red Funnel Tug/Tender Calshot) or 8.40 p.m. (the Alexandra Towing Company's Tug/Tender Romsey) depending upon which tug he took when he disembarked the Liberte(2). London Airport At the port all passengers passed through customs and most joined a British Rail train to Waterloo Station in London. This is presumably what Oswald did, arriving in central London late in the evening of the ninth.(3) From this point, Lee Oswald's movements have been the subject of controversy for more than thirty years. The alleged assassin's passport contains a stamp verifying 10 October 1959 as his departure date from England. The passport is also stamped with the same date for entry into Helsinki Airport in Finland.(4) There was only one flight direct from London Airport (now Heathrow) to Helsinki on that date, this was a FinnAir flight which departed London at 14.20 and arrived in Helsinki at 23.35 local time. It has been established, by the Warren Commission, that it would have been impossible for Oswald to have cleared customs and arrive at the "Hotel Torni" in downtown Helsinki before midnight. Herein lies the controversy, the hotel register states that Oswald checked in before midnight on the 10th.(4) Many authors (Groden/Livingstone, Melanson, Marrs, Epstein etc.,) have either raised this question or suggested (in certain cases, categorically stated) that Oswald may have had military or intelligence help in completing this leg of his journey. Other Flights My research has led me to the conclusion that it was not only possible to have made the flight in the specified time frame, it was extremely likely. I have been unable to find any military flights leaving London Airport on the 10th but there were three commercial routes available to Helsinki on that day (BEA/FinnAir being the only carrier for that destination). As well as the direct route, which the Warren Commission pointed out was hardly feasible, there was a choice of two other flights, one via Copenhagen (08.05 from London) and the other via Stockholm (08.50). Either of these could have been utilized by Oswald, and both would have been offered if he had arrived in the early hours of the 10th trying to book a flight. These flights would have arrived in Helsinki at 17.05 and 17.35 respectively, thus giving Oswald ample time to reach the "Hotel Torni" before midnight, which the register indicates that he did(5). Passenger lists for these flights have long since been destroyed, but - and this is a real shame - they would have been readily available to the WC in 1964 had anyone taken the trouble to look. Conclusion In conclusion it would seem that it is more likely than not that Oswald took a commercial flight from London to Helsinki. The real questions to be answered seem to be: a) Why take this route at all? b) How was this trip financed? Theories surrounding these questions abound but as yet no hard proof has emerged to answer them. Notes 1. Authors telephone conversation - Met Office, Bracknell Herts. 25. 8 94. 2. Letter and docking records for 7,8,9 Oct0ber 1959, to author 30.8.94 from Mr R C Hancock, Marine Administration Manger, Associated British Ports, Southampton., 3. Ibid. 4. Warren Commission, CE 946 6. Warren Commission, CE 2677 6. Letter and flight timetable for October1959, to author, 22.8. 94 from Fred Huntley MBE, Consultant Archivist, British Airways Archives and Museum Collection, Heathrow Airport, Hounslow. *e-mail: des3millscc@ntu.ac.uk