For Once a Captain: M.Eng "Knocker" Knowles....
Ah, "Knocker", I remember him well. I did a Caribbean Trainer with Knocker as it was his "swan song".
When well on the way... one side of Knocker's face would fall asleep while the other side would insist on speaking in a sort of strangled slurry !!
Two bottles of "Orange Squash", innocently ordered from the Line Supplier in the Bahamas (who had a three wheeled bicycle with a basket full of booze) ... suddenly turned into two bottles of Cutty Sark "Scwotch"... which Knocker promptly hid in the Accessories Bay behind the Flight Deck.
We got stuck in Barbados for about a week with very rapid Hydraulic Cycling and Knocker formed a friendly association with a lady from Vancouver Island B.C., and he claimed his "cycling" was almost as rapid as the Wheelbarrows Hydraulic system... It was one hell of a trip all the way around and when they arrived in Barbados with big smiles on their faces, the beers were on the Hercules rescue crew !
I can see Knocker now, sitting on his bed in the Royal Caribbean Hotel in Barbados after our foray into "Harry's Nitery" (the theme song there was "Stick your finger in !!!"), glass of Scotch in hand, extolling the praises of the lady from B.C. with one side of his face frozen. Henrietta thought Knocker was unique as did we all.
Knocker bought a Hardware Shop in the Midlands somewhere (might have been Crewe). He was 55 in 1969 so he would be 95 now if still "flying".
He was a pleasure to be with.
Those were the days....
DB