Jim Davis has a passion for instructing. He has been training civil and military pilots, in the air and on the ground for 50 years. His other passion is writing, which he studied at Curtin University in Perth. You can see, and buy, his two pilot text books PPL and Flight Tests at www.jimdavis.com.au
A pilot’s logbook is far more that just a record of dates, times, places and flights; it is also a history of a pilot’s flying career and a chronicle of the lessons learnt that makes them the aviator they are today. Jim Davis takes a look back through his own logbooks, and records the incidents that have shaped his approach to flying.
Mr Davis, you will never fly an aeroplane. You’re deformed man.” Flight Sargeant Holt’s ginger moustache was inches from my nose. “It takes a Burberry’s tailor to spot a cripple. When Hornchurch said you are fit to fly they made a terrible mistake, didn’t they Mr. Davis?”
“Yes, sir.”
His voice went to a harsh whisper, “Don’t ever insult me again by calling me sir. You call me Flight Sargeant. What do you call me?”
“Flight Sargeant, sir.”
“Mr Davis, you are even more stupid than you look.”
I was a gawky 17 year old – actually three months too young to join the RAF – but they made an exception because I had come all the way from Kenya. Selecting me as one of sixty, from three thousand applicants, was a huge mistake. We were the elite: at least the rest of them were.
It was the bitter Lincolnshire Christmas of 1956. A month earlier the
