. . and about a week before Wally, on 22 Aug 2011, Dave Gallanders eventually succumbed in Cyprus.
Cool and unflappable, I remember one of Dave's early incidents when, just as he pulled back for take-off in a Varsity, his seat unlocked and shot back. Dave had the presence of mind to let go and announce "You have control!" to the other guy. (Perhaps 'announce' wasn't quite the correct term)

Dave was operational in 267 and 115 and then Court Line, Dan Air, Cathay and Virgin. He was Secretary of the Cyprus branch of the Aircrew Association.

Sorry to hear the news. I went to school with Dave in Germany in the 50's. We were both service brats. Last saw him at Leeming in the late 60's.

RIP.

I always enjoyed flying with Dave and he was bloody good pilot to boot. That's another one off my email list.

Sorry to hear the news. I remember him well on 215 Course at South Cerney. He had an obsession with Boeing 707s.

I too, am sorry to hear of Dave's demise-does anybody know what he died of? I think it is sad that this thread is the only place where he gets a mention-he was a popular bloke in Cathay and was a helpful bloke in the check & training dept. too but there has been no mention of him (aside from here), in this web-site or the Cathay Classic site.

He has had several operations with relation to melanoma in the last few years. I guess that was what got him in the end.

I don't know if publishing the following extracts from several emails over the past couple of years from Dave to a group of recipients is appropriate but they go some way towards demonstrating the courage, humour and compassion of the man.

a rare, aggressive form of skin cancer in the groin area
My thoughts are for Diana who has had to cope with my heart surgery; now this
some pain from four different surgical wounds in the groin area where bits of the lymphatic system have been removed.
I now sport "fetching" white thigh length surgical stockings (no garter belt though!)
Keep the tasteless emails coming; they're good for morale.

If you think this inappropriate then I'll remove it.

Thread Hi-Jack not intended but this sounds very similar to another former 215 Course man's demise almost 3 years ago.

Very sad - I intend posting a remembrance on the 3rd anniversary which would also have been his 65th birthday. Having checked the search function, I think the event was not mentioned in Prune.

Just read the very sad news.

David was my flying instructor at RAF Akrotiri in 2003 during PPL training. He was a very likeable chap and had a huge amount of experience to share.

I saw a video of him line training on a Cathay L1011 and his teaching style was exactly the same as with me on the C172. As a previous poster said - unflappable.

I remember in my infancy of learning to bash the circuit (when 80kts felt like 450 kts :eek:) I asked David to set the power or something like but forgot to say please. He gently chided me with, "..even as a 747 Captain you still have to say please when asking the FO to do things for you.." Never forget that.

I know David was a well thought of member of the village he lived in as well as the Aircrew Association.

It is a real loss and my thoughts are with Diana.

The Cat.