PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - China recruits former British military pilots
Old 18th Oct 2022, 19:49
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WB627
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: East Sussex
Posts: 494
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Originally Posted by Mogwi
I had a very good friend who was employed in China to teach their nationals to fly. He spent a year or so there, had a very pleasant time and ended up married to a Russian princess. The marriage didn’t last, unfortunately, because she spoke no English and he no Russian. The briefs and debriefs were carried out through an interpreter and always finished with the phrase “I will try to do better.”

He was a highly decorated pilot who had been previously been flying state-of-the art fighters and on return, had no problem with his former Service nor, indeed the government.

Slight thread drift though; this was 1920, his previous type was the SE5A, on which he had won a Military Cross. He subsequently stopped flying, won an Oscar for the screen play of Pygmalion and formed a well-known broadcasting company that has had its centenary today. He also went on to write one of the best flying memoirs ever - Sagittarius Rising. He read some of my poetry in the late 80’s, which resulted in me being invited to his 90th birthday bash, where we formed an instant bond.

One hell of a man!

Mog
This is one of the most interesting biographies I have read in along time

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Arthur_Lewis


I should probably do a Wikipedia entry for my cousin Harold William Medlicott
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