I had an absolutely wonderful time on my UAS - the best dining-in nights and other socials that I ever experienced! In fact, most of my best late-night RAF memories are from that era - one notable exception being that of the Cpl bugler whose Cranwellian post-prandial diversion was to play the Post Horn Gallop on a Lee-Enfield .303 rifle, to an enthusiastic accompaniment of synchronised table-thumping and leaping coffee-cups!
[Edited because Gadget belatedly realised that all his best memories date from
before he strapped himself to something much more fiddly and less trustworthy than a bang seat!]
Sadly, never flew the Chipmunk other than from the back as a Space Cadet, but the 'Dog was a pretty good step up from the Cessna 150 'Spamcan' that I had done my Flying Scholarship on, and a 4-minute aeros sequence to a base height of 1000' MSD could be completed in a single go - which is more than could be said for some other mounts. I do remember wet-dreaming in those days about the Siai-Marchetti SF260, though!
Mind you, I suppose that a retractable undercarriage was just an open invitation to leave the damned thing up...
Gadget 