So many tales of Stan. I did my first Wessex SH (known then as SRT - Short Range Transport) "Cat"with Stan on HOCF at Odiham in May 1970.
I was already posted to Sharjah, so Stan didn't do any Met on the Ground Exam.
"It's all different there - it's in the Southern Hemisphere you see". Fine grasp of geography there Stan, but UK Met would certainly have been no use to me....
Flew with him later that year - November 1970 - when ASCEU (the Examining Unit) came to Sharjah. "Flew with him" is about right. It was a much sought after "Mountain Formation" sortie (aka wadi-bashing - not forgetting the Musafi Stimm bar!), and I barely got my hands on the controls - Stan was enjoying himself!
I (foolishly) enquired at the debrief how he would assess me when he'd hogged 95% of the sortie - think I was allowed the departure and rejoin at the airfield.
"Well laddie, you were OK when I flew with you at Odiham, it's a hard school here so I'm sure you've got better since then. C Cat confirmed!"
RIP Stan