Thank you for posting that, LD, nice reading
It's fun to note that some things have not changed:
I well remember laying out all the Air Navigation Charts for the flight on the floor at Maidstone - they reached right across the sunroom and out into the hall, [standard scenario for VFR flights across Europe]
the Auster was good for legs of some three and a half hours, plus reserves, or a goodly 300 or so Nautical Miles, the airfields never really worked out to suit the Auster’s tankage, and most legs were of the order of 180 to 250 nautical miles. [standard spamcan situation today]