Jeez this brings back some memories from a time long gone. DCA sending Ric Tait along to do our license tests.
Now there was the finest DCA Examiner I ever knew. A kind, well-mannered officer and a gentleman. In 1953 Ricky Tate was a RAAF Flight Lieutenant and my instructor on Avro Lincoln heavy bombers at No. 10 (Maritime Reconnaissance) Squadron at Townsville. I later knew him when he was in DCA at Moorabbin.
At Townsville I was having trouble with crosswind landings at night and losing my nerve. The long nose of the Lincoln Mk 31 blocked the view of the runway on short final and being a tail-wheel aircraft the Lincoln was prone to ground-looping if you let it swing on the landing roll. Old fashioned pneumatic brake bags gave slow response when used to stop a swing. I wasn't the only pilot to sweat out crosswind landings at night. Even the test pilot at ARDU Laverton wrote that the view from the cockpit of the Long Nose Lincoln was terrible at the best.
I asked Ricky Tate if he would accompany me on some night crosswind landings to see what I was doing wrong. We spent an hour on night circuits with a 10-15 knot crosswind; thankfully from the right which gave a better view of the left side runway lights. I was 21 years old with around 1500 hours.
Sufficient to say practically every touchdown was a greaser. Afterwards Ricky said "I can't see your problem - they were pretty safe landings." I said to him I couldn't explain how things went so well except to say his very presence in the cockpit with me that night restored all my lost confidence. Yet all he had done was sit quietly in the copilots seat and watch my flying. I shall never forget him.