How privileged we are to have this very special thread to read. Talking of very special, a Happy Birthday to you indeed, cliffnemo, as the one who kicked it all off! Thank you, and every other compatriot of yours, who have added so much to our understanding and knowledge of what was involved from A to Z in "Gaining an R.A.F. Pilots Brevet in WWII". It is of course the detail, the little things, the "Oh, by the way ..." stuff that is the very essence of this historically important testimony.
Finally another very special thanks to you Padhist for such a prodigious and enthralling output. Do others find so much is familiar, and yet other so different, to our own more mundane experience of later life in the RAF? The arbitrariness of sudden and often unwelcome administrative action must strike such a chord with those serving at the moment I fear. We can all look back and contemplate the "if only's" of our careers, but I suspect that the possibilities were nowhere near as stark and unforgiving as in the tales recounted here. Thank you Gentlemen, to each and every one of you.