And still on 33 Sqn!
Noo... He left and came back, right??? Talk about getting in a rut.
I remember an ongoing argument with him over the effectiveness of a door mounted GPMG. The first time we fired on it was on a sea range so apart from the high number of splashes it really isn't all that impressive. He said that the door mount was a toy and I argued it's effectiveness from an ex-rock's experience and the fact you have the benefit of shooting down on your enemy. The second time we fired it was a sea range too... He still claimed it was a toy and I still tried to tell him that he wasn't seeing it's true power.
The last time we fired it was over land with fig. 11 and 12 targets. I'll never forget his face the first time we brought fire to bear over land. The rounds kicked up all manner of dirt, rocks and ripped the undergrowth to pieces. After a nice 20-30 round burst you could see the world of sh1t you had just brought down accurately on a small area around a target. But I remember most what he said, (simply because getting Dick to back down was almost as hard as getting me to...
). "You were right Ginge... that's quite impressive"...
Then there was the time he came bowling in the 33 crew room and says to the Sqn Ldr he's about to go flying with "Sir, is there something you know that I don't" only to be greeted with the reply "Dick, there's an awful lot I know that you don't"...
But the best one ever was in the Sgt's Mess at some "do". All the crewmen are stood in a circle with the customary beer. Some have their wives and Dick is there having just returned from 2 months in Belize. Niel E****'s wife Sue was pregnant when he left and had had the baby while he was in Belize. She's stood there in her best party frock across the circle from Dick who pipes up "So, Sue, when are you due?". That was a silence you could have cut with a knife. Everyone cringed and looked to see what her reaction would be. She started to scowl and looked at Neil and we all waited, ready to dive for cover. She promptly burst out laughing to the relief of all... Dick was always the luckiest...
He also did one of the greatest services to flying the Puma helicopter, he was the one who got a certain crewman that I had been through Biggin Hill, AAITC, Finningley, Shawbury and 240 OCU with thrown off Puma's. I remember thinking at Biggin Hill that if the Air Force is looking for him they won't want me... He was a continual screw-up but somehow he always managed to scrape through on second and third chances. Finally he got to Belize and Dick sat LHS on his check ride BGS. IIRC, just after taking off from Rideau to drive back to APC, (90 miles/45 mins), Dick and the Captain noted and dealt with a HYD1 warning, (the light remained on). When the a/c was but a few minutes from APC the crewman pipes up in his inimitable glasgow accent, (I wasn't there but I can still hear it), "Sir, we have a HYD1 caption". Dick had him on the next VC-10 home and I gather that once he got back to 230 Sqn he was shipped straight off to the C-130 OCU at Lyneham - never to be heard from or seen again.
Dick, I salute you...