That makes two of us who have survived from that course! Happy days.
I seem to remember 165 double pumps to get the gear down whilst holding quite a foot force to keep S&L below max gear speed on sortie 3b of the AFS course.
Because of my short legs, I was obliged to have a foam cushion behind me in the T7. I've still got it somewhere. What the system didn't seem to appreciate is that with 150lb+ foot force applied, the foam cushion was compressed so much that it didn't make any significant difference to my crit speed. Oh well, nice thought!
The only time I ever needed to do an asymmetric approach in anger during 25 years of RAF flying was during the Strubby AFS course when doing pre-mediated engine shut downs and relights in an F8. Pity about the relight not working, so I ended up at Waddington with its longer runway.
I also recall enjoying solo night cross country sorties listening to amateur radio break-through on our VHF operating frequency adjacent to the 2meg amateur band. Otherwise, without sidetones in the single-seater, it was very quiet up there on your own at night looking at disembodied luminous dials without the normal-light illumination that we all know today.
We ddn't lose anyone on the course, though.