@M20J Thankyou I am pretty sure that’s the Chris I used to chat with. He was, in his troisième age, I would prefer to use the French expression as I too am there now. Lovely man, even if he did break the rules.
@Graham thanks for that link, what a great story, IMO its always good to hear about people who are so passionate about flying.
It is, I think, a poor reflection upon society that we would now see such feats of “deerring do” as completely unacceptable, dangerous ‘to the public’, and a reason to vilify, fire and lock someone up, as opposed to a way to actually gain employment…
Regards, SD..
There was a Christopher Draper who flew under a number of London bridges, but he served in the RAF in WWI, so he would have been pretty old by the early ’70s. That could be your man.
Reading about him on Wikipedia puts into perspective how tame our lives have become:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Draper
I can understand his frustration and his actions. But of course there was no choice but to punish him. Referring to another thread where some less favorable examples of British engineering were made, as regards the Hunter, not applicable! Wonderful machine, in the tradition of many other aeronautical engineering achievements of the Brits in aviation.
This question made me realise how lucky I have been to have flown with so many great pilots in both helicopters and fixed wing that there is no way I could single out just one. Should I choose one of the superb instructors or examiners I have had? Or perhaps one of the fast jet jockeys? Or one of 3 aerobatic world champions? One impressive GA pilot I flew with was also an astronaut.
All were both impressive as pilots but also eager to share their vast skillset whilst at the same time being both patient and humble.
But there is one guy I never flew with and so I don’t have first hand experience of how he was as a pilot, however, it would be great if anyone on here can tell me 1his surname. Apparently he was a famous pilot.
In the early 1970’s I worked for a while in the West End of London. I regularly used to lunch in a pub called the Grafton Arms. I regularly used to chat with a guy called Chris. He and the pub labrador used to entertain the regulars by putting beer mats on the dogs head and at a given signal the dog would shake its head, the beer mats would go in the air and the dog would catch all the beer mats in its mouth. Once as many as 10 beer mats.
A photograph of Chris appeared on the matchboxes sold by the pub.
Anyway, one day Chris was not there and I got chatting with the publican. He asked me “Do you know who Chris is?” He went on to tell me that Chris was a Battle of Britain pilot who got into trouble with the CAA for flying under either London or Tower Bridge. I never got to talk to him about flying, as I moved job after that. But he was a really nice guy and had some wonderful stories although none involved aviation. I would love to find out is surname so that I can Google him to find out more.
One instructor & examiner, she probably flew 25,000h teaching in C152s & C172s, that is a hell of acehivement !
One famous display pilot, who flew load of types: wings, floats, skis, gliders, vintages, spitfires and airlines
Two come into mind. A former captain of mine on the turboprop. Very calm, soft-spoken guy, his middle name could have been “Twin Otter”, previously a Pilatus Porter Jockey. Flew in South Sudan and those cozy places. He definitely taught me some tricks.
The second one is a very nice French captain on the jet. Flew everything, agricultural, firefighting, has his own Pitts and just breathes aviation. Knows the books in and out, and witnessing him flying the jet is something else.
I had a student who was ex NZAF MD Skyhawk A4 and ex Fleet Air Arm Harrier, that was an easy civilian IR conversion :)
Alan Cassidy and Mike Collett have forgotten more about aerobatics than I will ever learn. Cassidy liked to check his 3/4 negative flick roll on a regular basis :)
I did a checkride (my multi engine instrument) with Debby Rihn-Harvey.
https://www.iac.org/2007-hall-of-fame-debby-rihn-harvey
I also had the privilege to fly an impromptu formation flight with her once down to the practise area.
