Page 187 - Demo

183close to the top of cloud as we approached our cleared height. The icing often gets worse right at the top which did not help. We broke cloud but still hit the odd bit at height. I had just about full power on and could only just keep up with Bob. The aircraft was really wallowing about which was not at all nice. Eventually, kinetic heating meant that the ice started to reduce and we were able to relax a bit. We routed back via Reims and then Manston.Bob was actually filling in time with us before he left the RAF and so at some point that summer, he took leave to do his civil licences. I therefore became the acting Squadron Commander as well as being the Flight Commander. It was an interesting time. We were short of QFIs and unsuitable pilots were being sent to us. Lots of pilots did not want to be QFIs as they had not enjoyed their time as students. I think that we were much more professional and helpful than had been the case when I was trained. One of my jobs as a Flight Commander was to attend the streaming conferences. Mike Blee was the Flight Commander of the Bulldog squadron and we went through the candidate%u2019s flying reports right back to when they were students. The Bulldog chaps were going to University Air Squadrons where there were only about 4 QFIs. They could not accept anyone who might need a bit more supervision than normal. We tried to send pilots to where they wanted to go but it was not always possible. We prepared a brief on each chap based on their flying records (F5000) and presented it to a conference chaired by the Commandant and attended by the Wing Commander and Squadron Commanders. We would give our recommendations but had to defend them. We also queried why some pilots had been sent and the Commandant took that up with our command staff. The first course I was responsible for was awful and we chopped quite a few of them quite early on. I think one of the first chaps we got rid of had been flying at Boscombe Down. He was a Hercules pilot and was there writing manuals for that or something. He could of course got plenty of second seat