" I met many 'walter' types when I was a VR(T) Officer. They bought themselves No 5s and attended mess functions as if they were 'regulars' and at things like airshows, would sometimes appear in their No 1 apparently having 'forgotten' to attach their 'VRT' badges
Not quite, but very closely aligned to the above, I recently knew a civilian, and he was a pure civilian, not VR or FTRS, who, when he was taxying aircraft, whilst there was a requirement to wear the full kit, minus LJ, would duly appear wearing....Flt.Lt rank tabs because he was the civilian equivalent and thus, to his ego, as he often explained, he was entitled to wear them. He also considered himself to be....the pilot.
He was challenged about this, but, duly ignored the relevancy of the question.
He was also a "walt" in the cockpit, operating the aircraft in a very aggressive manner, exceeding the power limitations, you always knew who was in the cockpit by the noise alone, as well as making histrionic gestures to those outside....the minor details of rpm and temps for example, plus any captions that may have appeared, being not so much disregarded, more simply not monitored.
Quite how the "when" not "if" accident never happened is something of a miracle really.
Thankfully, this manifestation of the ego has now ceased.