Leaderboard

Gypsy as I will always remember him, in his DCS Spitfire LF.IX

Damn, rumbled

It was a pleasure knowing and flying with you Bill. Thanks for being a part of my life and sharing your incredibly valuable time with us Dogz. Blue skies mate.

Dear Bill, Can't tell you how much I'm gonna miss hearing that relaxed, easy-going drawl calmly emanating from my headphones; the easy-going grace with which you tackled any challenge - in the DCS cockpit anyway, as that is unfortunately the only arena I was able to witness it first hand - and the dichotomy of your quiet, almost befuddlingly laissez-faire, determination, all these made you a pleasure to be around in the virtual skies. The matter-of-fact way in which you treated your illness, knowing your time was limited, was of much the same spirit - and I will take some solace in the fact that, while you always kept hoping for another few months, you seemed, if not fearless, then phlegmatic and philosophical, to the point where if someone had tapped you on the shoulder and said "tomorrow morning Bill, 10.30", you're response would have been "okay, I got 13 hours to have some fun and love my family a little bit longer." I'll miss your stories, your jokes, that wheezy laugh. I'll miss the humility of a gentlemen being instructed in the finer points of Spitfire flying by a young upstart half his age and taking it with such decency and dignity, no histrionics, no drama, no diva, just oodles and oodles of plain good grace. Bill mate, you have a fine legacy and a wonderful family; and, if I may, you have made an example for a not-so-young man to aspire to, and if even a fraction of your grace and decency has rubbed off, well he's a very lucky fellow. I hope you have found yourself back in the cockpit of your T-38 - and this time I think they'll forgive you if you break outta the circuit. Go chase some clouds, Bill. No-one deserves it more.