Thanks Manky
I'm now sure he was ex RN as Hico-P is.
An amazing tail about one of his flights while a student in 705 at Culdrose. His instructor in a Whirlwind was flying from Culdrose to Predannack, a training field a few miles south at 500 ft. Nick asked what would happen if the Whirlwind lost its only hydraulics at cruise speed or faster. The instructor, whose name I won't mention, sped up & said I'll show you. Immediately on switching off the hydraulics, the Whirlwind went into a beautiful barrel roll, losing 500 ft in height & ran along a flat grass field at high speed with no obvious signs of damage. Unfortunately the wheel brakes were not the best & the machine came to a sudden stop when it hit a cornish "hedge". Both the seats broke off their mountings & the instrutor & Nick complete with the instrument panel on their laps, shot over the hedge & ended up sitting in the next field. The instructor calmly said well that's what happens at high speed & Nick equally calmly thanks him for his demo!!!
A sad loss for the industry.