Sleap Aerodrome
I first met Steve W-O when he was in the Royal Navy, as the flight commander onboard HMS Naiad.
I was also in the Royal Navy but as a submariner and I decided it would be a hoot to learn how to fly by gaining my PPL at Sleap in Shropshire, where we both lived at that time. Steve, or SWO as you guys refer to him, sent me on my 1st solo on 8th April 1978.
He had the patience of a saint, and I used up every last morsel of it as, during a cross country exercise, he batted on laconically about "maintaining a heading +/- 2 degrees improving as the flight continues"
I have many respectful memories of him and I wish him an obscenely long and healthy retirement.