October 21, 2020 at 8:53 pm
is it possible that a pilot who joined the RFC in 1915 could end up as an instructor on Gnats?
By: jeepman - 23rd October 2020 at 16:40
Indeed I was….
By: Sopwith - 22nd October 2020 at 09:18
You were watching “The Repair Shop”, last night, I wondered the same thing
By: Prop Strike - 21st October 2020 at 21:42
Aged 18 (min) he would have been born 1897.
The Gnat entered service in about 1961, making our pilot 64, so too old to still be a service pilot.
Perhaps he was employed by Hawker Siddeley, as a civilian with more flexible retirement rules. Neville Duke was still flying in a professional capacity into his sixties.
Gnats did not become civilian-owned and operated until the 1980’s by which time our notional pilot would be rather ‘senior’ to be instructing on jets.