Back in the day, having flown from Coventry to Valley with Carl Butler in his AOP Auster which was taking part in the Battle of Britain display, I found myself having a sarnie in the Crew Room, & John arrived with his lunch box & sat alongside for a blether. He was flying the Ryan PT-22 that day, also based at CVT, so I had heard the unique sound of the Kinner radial several times, but it was the first time I had heard his wonderfully apt description as “sounding like it was having permanent engine failure”
He also lectured the PFA strut at Coventry one evening on flying the Harrier, & towards the end, there we all were, sitting on our seats with hands on imaginary controls, all being talked through a landing - concentration etched on every face!
Now on topic - some years later I had an engine fail in my Tipsy Nipper, luckily overhead my strip, & although another owner had advised that engine off, it had the glide performance of a toilet seat, it wasn’t that drastic in the event, but in a day with a blustery crosswind, draggy enough to ensure perhaps a slightly modified version of John’s technique worked beautifully.
A total Aviation Gentleman, to be sure.