Page 291 - Demo

287first night Caroline complained of being cold or something. The next night we let her sleep in the bunk at the back of the caravan. That course organised a BBQ at some point later on. They borrowed a long fish slice thing used to get a pie out of a shallow dish. We never got it back and for years afterwards, whenever an occasion arose where it would have been useful it became a family joke to say ,%u201cwe need the thing the students stole%u201d. A couple of years ago I finally bought another one. I last flew with Caroline on an SCT formation trip practising for their graduation. She was always fun to fly and be with. In the practise I was No 4 in the box but the next day I led the 4 ship. I led several of the 4 ship flypasts as not many QFIs were cleared to do so. I think that we flew over a viewing point then did a couple of dumbbells before coming in for a run and break. One I remember, but I do not know which one, was a bit difficult. We were holding somewhere over Haxby and the weather was deteriorating. At last, we were called in but by now the cloud base was on the minimum limit or perhaps below. A box 4 was not that manoeuvrable. I had to drop down a bit, but I trusted the QFIs with me and just prayed that none of them would fall out and break away as they might not have realised that we were a bit low. None did thank goodness. They were all happy afterwards although they did say it was a bit sporty. Caroline%u2019s was the last course that we started with the Mk 3. Her course changed to the Mk5 when they had finished the main course. Now the Mk3s were being phased out and we had the last ever JP course. That was all on the Mk5 which was much more fun. The rest of the station were now flying Tucanos. Our students called us %u201cThe last of the fast%u201d as the Mk 5 was faster thanthe Tucano and could maintain 300 knots for a navex but ran out of fuel very quickly at that speed. I flew with other girls but not so consistently as I had with Caroline. I note that I flew with Fg Off Gabriel several times but sadly I cannot