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212same treatment. Lions in the wild are huge and we had driven up to them in a game park but this was hands on.Towards the end of our time, a number of pilots approached us asking about joining the RAF. This was a bit difficult for us as we were there to increase the Zimbabwe Air Force not the RAF. The only liaison we had with Britain was through the Army at BMATT and so we told those interested to write to the Colonel there. This some of them did and he promptly sent these requests back to us to comment on. We gave a report on their piloting ability and that eventually reached the RAF. Obviously, we knew who had applied but kept this information to ourselves. Later, when we were taken out to dinner, we were a little embarrassed to be congratulated on our efforts when we knew some of the chaps would be resigning. I do not know how many did so, but certainly one pilot joined the RAF and ended up flying Phantoms.And so our adventure came to an end. I wrote a service paper suggesting that we should put a loan service pilot in Zimbabwe because although Mugabe was a communist the relationship between a QFI and a student pilot was strong and it might be a way of influencing the country for the good. Because I was the only RAF pilot qualified on the SF260 I thought I would be a good candidate for the job. The paper was very well received, and I had a nice letter from on high acknowledging that. However, what I had not fully anticipated was that by the time the post was set up, I was promoted and so no longer in the running. We flew home and immediately I was back to work at Leeming, perhaps a couple of days off. I was checked back out on the Bulldog and the JP before working up on the Chipmunk, on which I became a CIRE and then just after Christmas an A2 examiner. The next few months were taken up with CFS visits to various UASs and the FTSs. And the usual run of IRTs and A2s. I was now testing some of the chaps who I had trained on the waterfront, hopefully passing them. I think that I