Originally Posted by
MPN11
1. Lt Cdr Tim Derrick was my Course Commander when I went through. Seemed OK from what I recall - at least, I didn't get into trouble with him!
2. There was another Instructor at the time who had 2 daughters. I dated one of them a few times, and the other ended up married to a contributor here*
* Unless my memory is playing tricks, but I'm quietly confident!
I saw Derrick on the course photograph you posted on this website, hence my mention of him. I am sure he was very professional.
Not sure who the course instructor was who was so generous with his daughters, but it was not Wing Commander George Elliot DFC -- Rosie was an only child.
My father & step mother, the Elliots and the Derricks were very close, 'not least because my dad was flying with Marshalls Outstations Shawbury from late 1961 to December 1981, much of which was as chief pilot.
When my dad retired, he also relinquished his VR (T) commission.
After a seven year career break between 1973 and 1980, my step mother resumed her Royal Air Force career, being posted to Northwood just ahead of the Falkland's war. She was promoted to Squadron Leader in 1984. She retired in 1987 to become Bursar of a West Midlands Public School, which she ruled with a rod of iron for more than a decade. My dad died in November 2007, my step-mother last year.