Treadders: You beat me to it with Ranald Porteous, who fulfilled all of Prof DD's requirements for being an 'aviation character'. Back in the early 80s he used he used to night-stop on Fridays in Southsea, where I then lived, prior to taking the early hovercraft over to Bembridge, where he was doing some consultancy work for John Britten on the Sheriff light twin project. My fondest memory of those times is going out with Ranald for our usual 'few drams' and an evening of fascinating tale-telling (alas, much of it forgotten in an alcoholic haze). On this occasion, and against my advice, he chose a particularly down-market pub renowned for its brawls. Now, Ranald, in addition to being an extraordinarily skilled pilot and superb raconteur, styled himself 'Scotland's Greatest Living Poet', and as the evening drew on, he climbed onto a table and began declaiming some of his verse. I braced ready to dash for the door as soon as the chairs started to fly, but they never did — Ranald's performance was greeted by rounds of applause and rounds of drinks in equal measure. What a character!