So that was 1983. Now we move on to 1984, and I’d always had a great desire about display flying aerobatics, and it had been decided for the 1984 Display Season that the OCU, 208 and 12 would each provide a display pilot. I went to Ben and said: “I’d like to be next season’s display pilot.” Now it is fair to say that, over the years on the Squadron with Bob and Graham and Ben, there had been some fairly robust discussions about my style of low flying and, thankfully, this was in the pre-YouTube days, when things weren’t filmed and out there as sort-of fact, and so there was a bit more scope for discussion. The one thing about the Buccaneer was that within the low-flying arena, it was one of the most fantastic aeroplanes I have ever flown. So that, as a pilot, you could really fly to your limits, plus or minus the regulations on top. I think this is where most of the robust discussions came. So, I went to Ben and said I’d like to be the display pilot. He said: “Yep, fine.” That was very astute because, all of a sudden, there was a mechanism for capturing my enthusiasm, whilst actually ensuring that I remained in the legal arena, shall we say. I am very, very thankful for this opportunity, and still to this day display flying is my greatest passion. I think by virtue of having the opportunity to do that, then it set me up. I can say: “You know I’ve done the Buccaneer display season”, and it was an interesting aeroplane. T-R is here: he was my nav for this display season, and very many thanks to T-R for sitting there, hopefully with his eyes open, and his hands not on the handle for too much.
But, within the high-speed envelope, it was fantastic for being able to really fly it precisely. The Buccaneer was a very, very difficult aeroplane at low speed and, if you got it wrong, you were going to crash. You were going to lose the aeroplane, make no bones about it. So I think for my future career in terms of flying, it gave me the opportunity to develop my skills in flying an aeroplane in parts of the flight envelope when you could really fly it, but also having to be on your mettle and fly an aeroplane in difficult parts of the flight envelope, and it really, really did help me to learn as a pilot. It was a great opportunity there.
