Hi All,

it’s been a while since this thread was active so I’m hoping I can gain a response. 
Im trying to find the pilot that flew me as an air cadet back in 1969. The aircraft was XP672 of the Manby Macaws. Looking at photos on this site it could have been Peter Diggance as he seems to have the correct build for the lovely guy that flew me. It was a memorable flight in many ways but one was that having been given control of the aircraft I tried a loop and lost it somewhere over the top putting us in a vertical dive. My pilot pulled us out and I remember tapped my helmet vigoursly telling me what I’d done wrong. I’ve never fallen out of a loop since! While swaggering across the apron afterwards dangling our helmets he debriefed me saying that’s the fastest he’d ever been in a JP. We were at ( or beyond?) the design limits for the aircraft. He also said I should apply to be an RAF pilot. We need more chaps like you he said, not many would have attempted what I did on their first flight in a jet!  

Of course XP672 is still around in a Welsh museum having been at Bruntingthorpe for many years doing engine runs down the runway prior to which it was on the civvi register and still flying for many years. It was: is in a grey military scheme but I’ve always thought it should go back into the Macaws scheme and be a true historical example of its past. I’ve got some photos to follow ( if I can find them !)

There is an old video on you tube, come up if you type in Manby Macaws and XP672 is in the opening shot