And what was the origin of the nickname 'Flaps'? There was a Training Capt on the Vanguard who was referred to as 'Jumping Jack', supposedly because he was not the most relaxed of operators. The story goes that a new F/O was being line trained and asked one of his buddies how the aircraft automatically eliminated drift before touchdown in a crosswind as he didn't recall this feature being taught in ground school. None of his mates could remember either. Then a more experienced chap chipped in:
'Who's your trainer?'
'Jack xxxxxxx.'
'Ah, that explains it - he's your auto-drift-remover.'
Is it worth starting a PPRuNe thread for these old aviation anecdotes?