The Transport Flight pilots who flew the Devons (and later the Dakota and Navajos - we NEVER called them Chieftains) were characters in themselves although they weren't TPs.
The was 'Denny' Dennison for instance. If he was flying the morning Bedford, we expected the altitude readout on his transponder to fail about 2 miles south west of Halton, and miraculously re-appear about 2 miles north east of Halton!! Talking to an SNCO at Halton one day, he told me he'd been taxying a Jet Provost on the airfield demonstrating to apprentices how to taxy aircraft, and close to the edge of runway 02, he'd looked up to see a Devon on short final, gear and flaps down!!
One day I did the Bedford - Staverton ferry with Denny. They served Staverton for boffins to/from the radar establishment at Malvern. Midway between the two airfields, the aircraft suddenly went into an almost 90 deg bank. Avoiding action? No, I could see Gaydon directly beneath!
Last edited by chevvron; 26th October 2008 at 14:07.