Mark Hanna
Some of the guys mentioned the late Mark Hanna in their responses.
I was lucky enough to go to G Del Colle with 56 Sqn on their exchange with the Italian F104s. My SATCO (Big Fat Moff) thought that as I spoke 'some' Italian, I could be of help to the sqn! Ali McKay (top guy), who was then OC 56 Sqn, thought that was a good idea, so off I went. Ended up being the ops clerk/assistant for the det and tried to help out where I could on the language front. The aircrew could not have been more helpful or tolerant, as I stumbled about trying to do the best I could. Anyway, I digress.
The last day of the det dawned and the F4s taxied out to depart back to the Wattisham. All proceeded to depart in fairly sporty fashion as was/is the norm with these things. One in particular sticks in my mind. The F4, piloted by Mark, came snorting across the pan, burners in, at v low level. So low in fact, that most of the jet was obscured from our view by the tails of the parked F104s in front of us! Those of you who are faimliar with the F104 will know just how small the tail is. Absolutely awesome, but had some the Italians jumping up and down in a mixture of joy and sheer fright!
Back at Wattisham, we were regularly treated to Mark flying the F4 with style. When an F4 departed RWY05 and at fairly low altitude commenced a perfect slow roll, it could only have been one pilot. The fact that he did it in an F4 in Delta fit made it all the more impressive!
Apologies for the slight thread creep here. I'm merely an air trafficker and rarely venture in to talk about the abilities or otherwise of pilots. But for me personally, Mark and his father Ray, were 2 of the finest pilots I have ever seen. Artists at work. RIP.
WJMcP