TTH -
No, we didn't think at the time about what we were doing with the stick and rudder, we just did it.
But we'd had lectures and tests on Theory Of Flight, and simulated circuits blind-folded, in a grounded Tiger without wings, before they let us anywhere near a real live aircraft.
At night we used a gooseneck-flares landing-strip laid into wind across a bumpy grass field.
Great stuff.