Most of us were single, so after our 1pm finish it was lunch in the Mess, then the pool and the bar, and at weekends water-skiing, motor-boat and dhow trips to the islands, and socialising. We, of course, as Hunter pilots, knew we were the cream of the aircrew at Muharraq, and that the RAF was the top of the three Services, so we led the way in our socialising. Tom was one of the few of us to have a car, a huge gas-guzzling American brute, and until the windscreen exploded one day with the heat, humidity and old age, he was king of the castle. Tom recalls being verbally abused by a couple of young ladies, and described himself as such a pillock as a youngster. That probably sums up many of the first-tourist Hunter pilots, but in our high-spirited ignorance we enjoyed ourselves tremendously.
After Bahrain Tom went onto C-130s, then left the RAF in 1974. 
Not long before he died he said that his time in the RAF was the most informative of his life, and left a deep impression. He had joined the RAF through Cranwell in 1965, spent 2½ years there flying Jet Provosts, done advanced training at
Valley on the Gnat, held for a year mostly on Chipmunks at Manston, and following a Gnat refresher had completed the Hunter OCU at Chivenor.
On leaving the RAF Tom took a job flying Piper Aztecs across the North Sea, and spent a few years in Aberdeen working for Dan Air flying oilmen around Shetland and Norway on the HS 748, then in Manchester and Gatwick on the BAC 111.
In 1989 he went to Hong Kong with
Dragonair on the Boeing 737. He became Fleet Manager on the 737, Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, and Airbus A320 and A330, and when he stopped flying he became Dragonair's Air Safety Manager as a Cathay Pacific employee, retiring in 2011.
After returni
ng from Hong Kong to live in Spain, he had desperately wanted to attend the 208 Squadron reunions and meet old friends, even buying air tickets on several occasions, but having to cancel them at the last minute due to his battle with cancer.
He divorced Steph, his first wife, was divorced by his second wife, Cathy, with whom he had a son, James, and finally found lasting happiness with his third wife, Cheryl.
