Thruxton 1962
... and following on from that ... I landed at Thruxton on the 12th August on my qualifying solo cross country in an Elstree London School of Flying Chipmunk G-ARGH as part of my ATC Flying Scholarship. It may well have been the first time that I had landed on grass and whoever I got to sign my required paperwork referred to my landing as a "wheelie". On requesting someone to hand-swing the Chipmunk I discovered that they were very reluctant because the Chipmunk had a metal prop! Eventually some brave soul did and I went on my way to my next landing at Luton before returning to Elstree. I seem to remember that someone else on my course failed to find Thruxton at all, and instead landed his Chipmunk at Boscombe. Having parked up he walked to the guardroom to report his arrival but at first they wouldn't believe him. The tight security(?) meant they then impounded the aircraft and I believe an Elstree instructor had to go down a few days later to retrieve it.
Similar to Marchettiman I had just done my A-levels at that time and two years later (and now earning about £9 per week) I could not afford the £6 15s per hour for a Chipmunk and tried instead to keep my PPL by paying £5 5s for a check-out in an Auster at Denham. If I remember correctly I couldn't hack the left hand stick and right hand overhead throttle and so I gave it up. Fortunately a couple of months later I was accepted for training as a helicopter pilot in the Royal Navy and so continued my flying in helicopters for the rest of my working life.