Ah, the Prickett ring of confidence! ISTR the idea was to give the most senior Transport Command captains a reward for long service and more clout in disputes with air movements etc down the route. Initially the acting squadron leader rank was going to be shared amongst the five strategic transport squadrons. The treasury approved twenty or thirty positions, which neatly covered 216 and 10 Squadron, so they were the chosen ones. Some of the old captains on Britannias and Belfasts were extremely pi**ed off. I was in the Blue Spitoon crew bar with our squadron boss when his promotion to Group Captain was officially confirmed in the new year list. The arrival of a westbound VC10 crew was imminent when Jock borrowed mine and the nav's Flt Lt epaulettes to replace his three rings each side. He was doing his party trick of standing on his head with his back against the wall while drinking a pint of beer when the VC 10 crew walked in. The acting squadron leader VC10 captain, who was new to transport command and did know who our boss was, stops in front of Jock and orders him to stop taking the mickey. Jock gets to his feet and says, "sorry sir!"
A day later a new captain replaced Jock who returned to UK as a passenger in a VC10 crewed by the shinies in the bar. This time he was wearing his group captain rank braid, much to the embarrassment of the captain.
Last edited by brakedwell; 26th Feb 2017 at 21:25.