Ah! Such memories you evoke, Danny. Hullavington Officers Mess, a grand "triple decker" Baldwin Mess complete with a minstrels gallery for musical accompaniment at Guest Nights. Merely a domestic overspill site for Lyneham in the 70s, Hullavington meant that as we were in Married Quarters there it was our Mess also, instead of the "contemporary" one at Lyneham.
More memories too of the Link Trainer Section at various CCF Summer Camp venues in the 50s. We would patiently wait our turn in the queue for a go and of course then log it in our Record of Service book, which I have still.
A question which occurs, but will probably show my lack of attention to your previous posts, in which case I beg your forbearance. When exactly did you know that you would be trained as a fighter pilot? I presume that the great bulk of people were destined for multi engine training and thence Bomber Command.
Was the decider your showing in Training? It certainly was in my case. My final handling test with a Canadian Wg Cdr CFI brought forth the comment from him, that I was "a lousy pilot, but you've got guts!". I can only surmise that he was referring to my non stop patter as we fell out of aero after aero (my instructor having enjoined me to not dry up, no matter what happened!). I was grateful enough to go on to multis.
