When Chas came out of the RAF I gave him his first civilian job. He was an oustanding pilot and a great organiser. When I acquired a Twin Otter Chas volunteered to get it on the AOC and wrote the manual for it. 6 Weeks later the CAA were happy with his effort and the rest is history. His capacity for knowledge knew no bounds. He was an expert on many things, space, steam locomotion, flying, a superb artist and a very good muscian.
We grew to be great mates and so it went on. Families together.
Good times, fun times - always fun times and I admired him in every aspect of his life. He was a very generous man - to a fault usually - and Di simply was to him everything. I have been close to him, with Di and the family, over the past few horrendous days but I do have some little moments we shared that I shall treasure for evermore.
I wonder what I am going to do without Chas, how my life without his humour and friendship and counsel will suffer, but I know he would not like to think that I had such thoughts, so I will cherish his love and memories - but I will never get over losing my best friend.
RIP Chas x