This June it’ll be the 46th anniversary of my first solo at Sywell, on my 17th birthday in a Beagle Pup. My Flying Scholarship was sponsored by the Charles Newton Memorial Trust although there were several military scholarship chaps training there as well. A glittering career with BOAC was thwarted when the RAF foolishly offered me a job based on my 8 ‘O’ levels whereas Hamble wanted 2 A levels!