It was exactly the stream of people queuing up to kick Pablo on R&N (rather than this thread) that prompted my post, Foldy.
Very few of them know him. Even fewer have flown alongside him. Yet fewer have done as he did. (Yourself quite clearly excluded).
None of them have made their 'contribution' to his character assassination openly, and all (yourself included) have chosen to snipe from behind the anonymity of a PPRuNe username.
It's really not very elevating, is it?
And saying so is something less than sanctimony.
As to claiming single-handed responsibility for victory, Pablo's most famous utterance was surely that he was terrified, and when I spoke to him, he was at pains to underline his part as being that of a small cog in a bigger machine. It's not as though he was a complete braggart in the mould of 'Sardiney' Ward, who chose to undermine and belittle the efforts of everyone else!
I had a good friend who did fly another XV Squadron jet in the same conflict (Bob B), and he was gracious about Pablo's contribution, as were a number of other former XV Squadron aircrew.
But I'm not concerned as to Pablo's flying or leadership qualities, nor as to his character. I'm not for one moment arguing that he was a great RAF FJ pilot, nor even a great example of an RAF officer, nor that he was a model employee for his airline.
My opinion is that he was "none of the above" (and that he was an average, at best, Tornado pilot, who did his imperfect best for his squadron, his service and his country) - though as such he was still a better man than I, and a better man than many of his critics - as the fact that he earned a hard-won place in an RAF FJ cockpit at all clearly demonstrates.
Though you, as a Tornado pilot yourself, might quite rightly and quite reasonably view him rather differently.
I do question the need to kick him when he's down, and I do wonder at the character of those who were his former comrades in arms, or who are his fellow aviators, and who choose to do so in quite such a sneaky and underhand manner.
And much the same goes for any 'behind the hand' sniggering about John N*****. Whether a 'switch pigs' was responsible for his fate in Iraq is immaterial, in my view, and regardless of whether it's his vanity or the incompetence of slack-witted journos and editors that have led to the occasional misapprehension that he was a pilot, rather than a Nav.
If you're going to criticise a fellow aviator by name (or so explicitely that even my mum would know who you're talking about - and she's been dead 24 years) then I think that one should probably have the 'nads to do so openly.
As a serving 'mud', and as a former squadron mate of Pablo and John N, you have more right than anyone to comment, and more authority. That makes you close to unique among his PPRuNe detractors, however!
I make no pretence to having anything like your expertise or experience that would qualify me to contribute equally to the debate. I have no wish to get embroiled in an argument with you, and would underline that I have absolutely no right or wish to criticise you, personally.
But I do deplore the overall campaign of anonymous Joes lining up to give Pablo a swift kicking while he's down.
It doesn't seem very British, and it's certainly not the sort of behaviour one expects from RAF officers or professional aviators.