Arthur's last flying job was at RAF Aldergrove, Northern Ireland, in 1956-8. As CO of 23 Maintenance Unit, he test-flew an impressive assortment of aircraft, including the Javelin, Swift, Hunter and Canberra. One of the many piston-engine aircraft was the Shackleton. He had a couple of little 'asides' about flying it.
In his log books, assessments of his flying ability were invariably either 'Above the average' or 'Exceptional'. On his first attempt at landing the Shackleton, the Wing Commander Flying was watching, with a beady eye, from the Control Tower. Instead of making a normal, long and gentle approach, Arthur came in to land after an unusually low-level tight turn. Afterwards, the WCF observed: ‘That was a frightening split-arse turn… but a beautiful touch-down!’ ('Spilt-arse', I guess, is RAF slang?.. although the physiological implications imply Formula One?)
On one occasion, the technical staff needed a special wrench to remove the airscrews from a Washington. One of the US bases in England had one available, so he took a Shackleton over the Irish Sea to pick it up. Before he left he offered any airmen who were about to go on leave, a lift in the aeroplane as an alternative to making the long sea-ferry crossing. When he and his crew arrived at the aircraft he found, to his surprise, a small
crowd of airmen and women, together with their baggage, waiting to climb on board. This, of course, was a maritime patrol not a passenger airplane. Quite how they all got in was never established, but on arrival, Arthur called ahead to the American airbase to arrange transport for his human cargo. The Americans laid on a bus and the contorted mass was, no doubt, much relieved to get to the railway station!