Con Artists
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Con Artists
Con Artists !!
In 1953,on my return to the UK from FTS in Rhodesia, I went into a pub on Picadilly. The only seat available was on a table already occupied by a civilian & also, I then noticed , a man about 30 in " an American style" Captainīs rank uniform. He had pilots wings , a couple of rows of medals & was talking about the shattering experience that he had the day before at R.A.F. Finningly when his student was killed on his first solo in a Canberra. (Not yet converted to jets, I was discretely "all ears" !!). His C.O. suggested he needed a break. " Go down to London for a few days".
A few days later I received my AFS posting to .... Finningly !! Having been previously recommended for Fighters I did not want to be posted to, what I now believed was, a Canberra (Bomber) AFS !! However, I was assured that my information was incorrect & that Finningly was a Meteor only station ??!! I forgot about the Picadilly incident & completed the Meteor ground school course there.
The first time I visited the hangar with my flying instructor, Sgt Bobrowski, who should I see but Picadilly man in a flying suit !! I asked "Bob" who was that Instructor ? " Oh, heīs not an instructor, heīs on the course ahead of you & hasnīt gone solo yet,due to bad weather here recently !!".
Actually, he proved to be a very nice chap. Older than the rest of his countrymen there - having transferred from their army when their air force was starting up - we played many games of Canasta together. He never recognised me.
Many (15/20 ?) years later I was reading in Flight or Aeroplane magazine a feature article on a National airline in the Middle East.
No prizes for guessing who had his Big picture on page one as Chief Pilot !! I Often wondered how much "spin" he used over the years before he ended up with that job.
In 1953,on my return to the UK from FTS in Rhodesia, I went into a pub on Picadilly. The only seat available was on a table already occupied by a civilian & also, I then noticed , a man about 30 in " an American style" Captainīs rank uniform. He had pilots wings , a couple of rows of medals & was talking about the shattering experience that he had the day before at R.A.F. Finningly when his student was killed on his first solo in a Canberra. (Not yet converted to jets, I was discretely "all ears" !!). His C.O. suggested he needed a break. " Go down to London for a few days".
A few days later I received my AFS posting to .... Finningly !! Having been previously recommended for Fighters I did not want to be posted to, what I now believed was, a Canberra (Bomber) AFS !! However, I was assured that my information was incorrect & that Finningly was a Meteor only station ??!! I forgot about the Picadilly incident & completed the Meteor ground school course there.
The first time I visited the hangar with my flying instructor, Sgt Bobrowski, who should I see but Picadilly man in a flying suit !! I asked "Bob" who was that Instructor ? " Oh, heīs not an instructor, heīs on the course ahead of you & hasnīt gone solo yet,due to bad weather here recently !!".
Actually, he proved to be a very nice chap. Older than the rest of his countrymen there - having transferred from their army when their air force was starting up - we played many games of Canasta together. He never recognised me.
Many (15/20 ?) years later I was reading in Flight or Aeroplane magazine a feature article on a National airline in the Middle East.
No prizes for guessing who had his Big picture on page one as Chief Pilot !! I Often wondered how much "spin" he used over the years before he ended up with that job.
