By the way, in the German Airforce the experienced crewchiefs on the UH-1 often could fly better than the young pilots.... but officially they werent allowed to touch the controls!
Same this side of the pond. They had more hours handling the controls than the new guys and had been taught by the Sqn Beefers in many cases!
Three of the crewmen I used to fly with went on to be professional pilots (four if you counted CharlieGolf, but he after gaining his PPL wings realised he was too clever to fly for a living, so he became a schoolteacher and headmaster instead).
Another was one of the chief glider pilots in the RAF system. One became a Concorde First Officer and another chief training captain for a well known UK company.
The chap who checked out CPLHs for the CAA for many years, and will be a familiar name to many of the pilots here, was an Army Air Corps observer when I first met him (I think he's since been promoted even further within the CAA and good on him, too).