Interesting point ORAC, my grandfather flew hurricanes in the battle France and later on after recovering from his wounds went on to fly typhoons and eventually tempests, he always said the same thing as well.
His favourite story, if memory serves correctly, revolved around either an NZ or Oz pilot who displayed all the aptitude of your average Vicky Pollard, he was however when in sight of the enemy utter fearless and ruthless and was a dead shot when it came to deflection shooting, I think I'm right that he was shot down by ground fire during an intruder mission and ended up making it to Switzerland and marrying a local maiden!