Methinks that the man may have been an above average Dingy sailor but his rank and maybe cultural background has left a slight chip. The headline wasn't addressed well and could be covered in his last few paragraphs...
With the real RAF I never felt uncomfortable about rank.
Once I was told to let go of Dennis Healy (sadly recently passed away) I'd virutally frog-marched him to the Guard room after meeting him knee deep in snow, taking photos of our Transmitters.... How was I to know he was the Minister of Defence? He visited my den at work the next morning accompanied by several senior officers. He patted my shoulder " Hi there F...! how's it going here?... (He'd picked up my name from the Corporal). He asked my 'boss' "What 's the story so far? 'F*** will explain' came the answer from behind... We spent 20 minutes dicussing what was then an 'interesting' situation. I was later quizzed by our Station C/o who'd heard the story...he'd been told I was a 'family friend'.... to which I nodded disapproval, I didn't vote for him I said. Strangely it made little difference to our relationship....he still had more stripes.