After WWII there were of course many very experienced pilots. The new CAA decreed that all needed a licence to fly. When one of our very experienced WWII test pilots applied for a commercial and was told he would have to sit the exams (!) he refused. He continued to aviate for the rest of his life remarking that when you don’t have a licence they can’t take it away from you.
John: Maybe you can confirm a story that I heard a long time ago, that Brian Trubshaw had been test flying Concorde for some time, before it was discovered that he only had a PPL, and that he was 'given' a CPL to save embarrassment?
I really do hope that it's true!
MJ
