Originally Posted by
DaveUnwin
When I was the manager and Tug Master of the Black Mountains Gliding Club at Talgarth we had a steady stream of GSA, Navy and Army gliding expeditions, and also VSOs visiting our resident Air Commodore. No one ever used their rank, ever. It just wasn't done. The only thing the CFI and I cared about was "could they fly?" as Talgarth could be tricky, but always fun. They were invariably accomplished sailplane pilots, and relished the challenges. However, the bloke driving the radio at Shobdon liked to be called 'Commander' and could be 'difficult'. If I flew over in the Pawnee to tow home one of our gliders that hadn't quite managed to get back he never made it as easy as it should've been.
Many years ago, the BAOR Gliding club at Achmer Airfield (near Osnabruck) was run by a CFI who at the time, was an Army Air Corps Lance Corporal! Same as in your scenario above, lots of people on Gliding courses with a wide range of ranks, but he was the guy in charge and it was all first name terms. His credibility was established by him being an excellent instructor and and even better glider display pilot. I'm sure he was a terrible Lance Corporal though...