F
areastdriver, (Your #6360)
A few words of comment on your absorbing story:
"...not need blancoing.." : There may yet be some who have not heard of the lone Guardsman picked up in the Libyan Desert in the North African campaign..
"Wa-er, wa-er", he croaked. They gave him some, and he set about blancoing his belt with it !
"Lashings of bacon, eggs and chips": Baked Beans were a more usual "filler" in my time, but that made you anti-social
at 30,000 ft in an (unpressurised) Meteor 7.
"South Cerney": Otherwise Known as "Hell-on-the-Hill"
by generations of aspiring QFIs.
"...Gieves, Moss Bros. and R. E. City were the three firms. Hawkes was an Army and Navy specialist...": I think Gieves had the Navy pretty well sewn-up. R.E. City were latecomers to the Feast, but their stuff was good (they made my Mess kit) and originally cheaper than the the top names (but what happened to their prices when they joined the charmed circle ?). Austin Reed were in it too, and others I can't remember now.
But if you lowered your sights a bit, and were a stock size, Monty Burton was not at all bad (but hardly a good Career move !) and then there was always Bedford's of Newark. In the circumstances you were in, though, the vultures had gathered and had you at their mercy !
"...was the Bates rep. These were the hats that everybody wanted": My last one is somewhere on top of the wardrobe; I think it cost me two guineas in about '67. We had a discussion on this Thread about the Bates Cap some time ago, when I had recalled having some difficulty at Thorney Island with a runaway BSA Winged Wheel, and my cap fell off at about 20 knots in my struggles to get the beast back under control.
"...about what keeps an aeroplane in the air...": Enter Signor Bernoulli, who makes it all clear (as mud !).
"and officers uniforms are no use then": Unworn, you would get a good price for them from Bedfords of Newark.
(No connection other than being a satisfied customer !)
"as he ran his fingers along clean pelmets": Our US "Officers of the Day" went one better, they wore white gloves to check for dust on the
light bulbs 
in our rooms !
Danny.