Johnfairr
John I have to keep reminding myself that this is your Father talking and what a great chap he must have been ! He writes as though he were talking to you and takes me back to the days that I was doing the same thing. I soloed on the 28th. of June 1941, just three months after him, after 9 hours of dual and experienced exactly the same feelings as he did ,only now it is 68 years on and I had just had my nineteenth Birthday the Month before. Do you know what age he would have been then ? I have found it amazing how many pilots I have met throughout my career whose birthday was in May and so had Taurus for their sign. There were even two in Sabena who had the same date as mine, the 8th. (VE Day !).
The huge difference that struck me was the strict and ridiculous discipline that we had to undergo under the American system . Although the training was magnificent, the atmosphere out of the air was wretched and I envy the conditions that your Father described so well. Meals with your Instructor and Wife! There was absolutely no after flight liaising until we reached the dizzy heights of Advanced when they relaxed a bit and even allowed that you might be human after all. I look forward so much to hearing more and would appreciate your own comments about what you, yourself, feel when you see all of this in black and white. That , of course, is a very private matter and I understand perfectly. Reg