Reading this thread caused me to remember an unpleasant encounter I had with a former Vulcan pilot almost 3 years ago.I was assisting my brother who was working on a friends house in Dorset,and part of the work involved installation of weatherboarding to the side wall of an ugly garage built from breeze-blocks,in order to render it more aesthetically pleasing.However,one wall of this building abutted the stone wall of the neighbouring property,and access to the top of the garage wall was only possible by leaning a ladder against this neighbours wall.The neighbour objected to this,and told my brother,who was at the top of the ladder,that he was going to get a hose pipe and start watering his bamboo hedge,the implication being that he was going to give my brother a soaking.
I told my friend for whom we were working,about this,and she said that he was rather obnoxious in several ways,and that he also liked to let it be known in the village,that he was a retired squadron leader and former Vulcan pilot,presumably thinking this would afford him some status in the community.
She told me his name,which I won't disclose,but I'm sure that some people on here will recognise him when I relate what I discovered after entering his name on google.
According to google,in 1975,while a Vulcan co-pilot,he attempted to land at Luqa,in Malta,and botched it big-time,pushed the undercarriage through the wing,but got airborne again,the aircraft then catching fire.According to google,he and the captain then ejected,leaving the 2 nav's,AEO and 2 crew-chiefs to crash and burn,along with one civilian on the ground.There is B&W news footage on the aftermath available on-line as well.Oddly enough,he omitted to mention this event when revealing his officer status to the locals.
However the following day,when he again began making complaints,about the ladder leaning against his wall,and stating that there were principles involved,and that we should have sought his permission before resting the ladder against his property,I asked loudly,of my friend standing nearby,"Fiona,do you think that the principle of a Captain going down with his ship is carried over into the world of aviation"?
There was a moment of silence from the neighbour,while he stared daggers at me,then he asked if I knew anything about aviation? I said "a bit",then he asked if I was a pilot? I said "maybe" ( which I was,though only a PPL,but also a retired ATCO).Then there was a pause,before he snarled " you were a bloody navigator,weren't you! I said nothing more to him,but ever since,I have referred to him as 'Squadron Leader Heavy-Landing'.