R4H
Re uniform - back in '71 I had to endure a route check with a wing nav' who always suffered badly from 'small man syndrome'. It was from Dulles back to Lyneham and as I had arrived back at base very late on the evening before initial departure from Lyneham, I had missed the captain's pre-route briefing where maybe it was mentioned that No.1 dress blue was mandatory for Washington.
The little Welsh bar steward downgraded me from B to C - I thought about grabbing him by the throat and asking what the f**k my uniform had to do with him. Having been on a low-level detachment at Luqa with him 6 months before, where he was the operating lead nav' of a 9 ship and I ( still then a Fg Off just prior to promotion ) was sat on the bunk as the stream leader's nav', I did not have too much respect for his professional ability. Bloody useless came to mind!
It reminds me of a story the late John Lambert told me - on one of his last trips as a skipper before taking 8 year option and joining Britannia Airways, he was bounced by a very well known trapper on a flight somewhere east. At the debrief the trapper opened with, 'Well young Lambert, first of all you could do with a fooking haircut' - John replied, 'If that's all you got to say J**k, you can fu*k off', and then walked out. John was a first-class pilot and brilliant good operator, so I doubt that our trapper had much to criticise.