Tiger Moth - Peter Sullivan R.I.P.
A good friend of mine, Peter Sullivan, was a flying instructor at Goodwood - no doubt other places too - and was heavily involved in air to ground mapping.
When he found out that air to ground photography was my game, he leant me all his priceless logs, calculations & notes.
He had a nice little sailing boat, a top example of a Leisure 17 ( still looking for a GOOD new home ) which by circumstances I was able to help him with, but his health was already failing; the good thing is that he passed away peacefully in the loving company of his lady friend ( I never got to meet her, as like a lot of females she considered herself allergic to sailing, i.e, having to shift about in usually cold & wet conditions ).
I'm currently at war with our sailing club as only committee members get an obituary mention;
We have recently lost as members Dennis Warren - head of design liaison Harrier & Hawk, plus heavily involved in the world speed record runs with the Fairey Delta 2,
Charlie Solley, who volunteered under age and worked on Swordfish on the Murmansk convoys, before becoming Chief Inspector on the Harrier,
and Peter Sullivan.
None of the above were bothered with the ' in-crowd ' at the sailing club ( it prides itself on not being ' posh ' but sure as hell has cliques ) but a committee member who had flown a Mustang, late in the war with as far as I can make out no combat, but was an obnoxious little p---k who had a violent agenda against ' cruisers ' - i.e. boats with lids on - versus dinghies was given star treatment, despite deliberately leaving his crappy dinghy in the way of the cruiser crane etc.
The most stupid part was that he sailed a dinghy most would only use for basic training, while plenty of cruiser owners like me ( one cruiser chap was also a dinghy National Champion ) also sailed in the hottest, most expensive dinghies possible at other clubs, as long as some other idiot was paying for them !
Needless to say, said berk with a few hours in a P-51 had a whole page obituary in the club newsletter, which even mentioned him being ' one of the few ' ! So he had time travel among his assets...
The people I've described above, who really did something, got one cursory line at most.
Re. Charlie Solley, John Farley wrote here;
" Charlie was a prime mover in the ( Harrier ) programme.
He didn't do it for glory, or for money - just because he could, and wanted to do his bit ".
That must rank way above any petty sailing club, but as the newsletter writer insulted Charlie to snub my previous request for a decent mention ( and she owes me some large favours ) - the gloves are off !
Back to Peter Sullivan - who did not even get a mention and is another part of my little war -
Peter always said he liked the Tiger Moth, but preffered the Stampe with its' four ailerons.
Last edited by Double Zero; 9th Sep 2009 at 10:09.