Danny
Your story of the air test of a Vengeance at Cholavrum, and your resulting unpopularity, reminds me of one of Arthur's antics.
(Arthur flying a Blenheim Mk1, off the Isle of Man, for radar calibration)
His first posting of the war was to Jurby, on the Isle of Man, where he was a staff pilot, taking trainee aircrew up to practice their various skills: notably bomb-aiming and gunnery over the sea. While there he got to know a family by the name of McKay. The father had owned a laundry business in York, but moved his wife and two daughters to the Isle of Man to escape the expected German bombing of mainland cities.
A good looking young man, Arthur was bit of a young woman
magnet, and before long became good friends with one of the daughters. The family had a house overlooking the sea and Patricia asked him to zoom over the house sometime. This he did one day, on his way back from a training sortie. He lined up his Blenheim with the house, climbing up from sea level, intent on giving the roof timbers a good shaking. Fortune would have it that although his flying skills were spot on, his timing wasn't. Mrs McKay was at that moment sitting up in bed with a tray of tea balanced on her lap. As the two Bristol Mercury engines blasted over head, the outcome might easily be imagined... the whole lot went airborne and back down over her and the bed clothes.
He remarked:
'After that, I was not at all popular, but to her great credit, Mrs McKay said nothing about it on my next (very much quieter) visit to her house!' 