Sid, we both know LJ is busy right now googling something else that is totally obscure to disprove that the very first British military qualified pilot in space and of course the first to do a space walk just happens to come from the Army Air Corps.
MOSTAFA: just what is your implication? That the AAC is better than the other services because Tim was once a member? You might as well claim that being a chocolate flavouring chemist is better than being in the AAC as that was the order chosen for a previous mission!
I think what Tim is doing up there is fantastic & I would dearly love to have a go myself but to claim some form of ascendancy for the service of which he was once a part is a bit of a stretch. After all he left the AAC to continue his flying career, presumably because the army considers flying to be a job for NCOs & only a part time distraction for officers. From his biog he seems to have spent much of his flying career away from the AAC either as a QFI or TP so it could be argued that he has achieved success both in aviation & as an astronaut despite his background rather than because of it........