In this episode, we follow the journey of a Royal Air Force pilot, deeply influenced by his Battle of Britain pilot father. This comprehensive dialogue covers his path from university in Johannesburg to joining the RAF, overcoming various challenges, and his resolute aspiration to fly the iconic Lightning jets. The discussion traverses numerous intercept missions during the Cold War, significant leadership roles including introducing the Tornado into RAF service, and the evolution of military aviation over decades. The pilot shares advice for aspiring aviators, reflecting on technological advancements, camaraderie, and the thrilling experiences that shaped his illustrious 45-year career.
interview with Rick Peacock-Edward’s, a former RAF pilot, detailing his journey influenced by his Battle of Britain pilot father. He explains how his father's experiences and a single conversation led him to join the Royal Air Force rather than the South African Air Force. Rick recounts his training, his first solo jet flight, and his favourite aircraft, particularly the Lightning and the Gnat. He shares anecdotes about intercepting Russian aircraft during the Cold War and highlights leadership challenges, including introducing the Tornado aircraft into RAF service and leading during the Gulf War. Rick emphasizes the importance of being oneself in leadership roles and expresses nostalgia for the hands-on flying experiences of his era. He also reflects on the evolution of military aviation, the potential future of unmanned aircraft, and advises young aspiring pilots to seize opportunities in the RAF. Lastly, Rick touches upon his rewarding post-RAF career and the different paths it has taken.
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Books by Rick Peacock-Edward’s available at amazon, and all good book stores.
Rate of Climb: Thrilling Personal Reminiscences from a Fighter Pilot and Leader - https://amzn.eu/d/93gYSCf
Gnat Boys: True Tales from RAF, Indian and Finnish Fighter Pilots Who Flew the Single-Seat Training and Fighter Aircraft - https://amzn.eu/d/2k6x6NN
Coming soon:
Teddy Peacock-Edwards: Battle of Britain Pilot and Second World War Ace https://amzn.eu/d/f1WSO1v
00:00 Introduction to the Fly Pod
00:21 Rick's Early Influences and Decision to Join the Air Force
01:58 Journey to Becoming a Fighter Pilot
06:01 First Solo Flight and Training Experiences
08:35 Favorite Aircraft and Memorable Missions
13:18 Intercepting Russian Aircraft During the Cold War
24:41 Leadership Challenges and Personal Insights
27:03 Navigating Social Dynamics in the Air Force
27:39 Challenges of Introducing the Tornado Fighter
29:39 Evolution of Military Aviation
33:18 The Rise of Drone Technology and AI
34:28 Reflections on a Rewarding Career
39:00 Mentors and Influences
41:45 Advice for Aspiring Fighter Pilots
47:13 Quick Fire Questions and Personal Insights
52:40 Concluding Thoughts and Podcast Outro
Rick Peacock-Edwards
[00:00:06] Welcome to The Flight Pod, exploring the lives and journeys of the most influential people in aviation and travel. I'm your host, Michael Laren, and in this episode I spoke to former Aria Fighter pilot Rick Peacock Edwards, about his incredible career. Rick's father had been a buckle of Britain Pilot, and he shared with me how influential this had been on his decision to join the Air Force.
[00:00:29] Rick: They were my heroes when I was a youngster. They're still my heroes today, I suppose, including my father. Um, and in fact, they, to be quite frank, they've driven my life.
[00:00:39] Rick: I've, I've molded my life on, on the way I perceived Battle of Britain pilots. So, I mean, my father was South African, so although I was born in, in the UK actually at the end of the war when he was still living here, we went, we then went back to, uh. Um, South Africa and then Rhodesia, and then, then he came back into the [00:01:00] area for another till 1957 before we finally went back to South Africa where had a family.
[00:01:05] Rick: All my brothers, the whole family is still living in South Africa. Um, I'm, I'm the Northern Hemisphere part. The family. Yeah. And, uh, yes, my father, uh, you know, I. I left school, went to university in in Johannesburg, but I wasn't happy with what I was doing and I was sort of floating around and my fa, I think I was pretty wild as well.
[00:01:27] Rick: I think my father was tearing his hair out, if I'm quite honest. But one, one night he said to me, he said, Rick, have you thought about joining the Royal Air Force as a pilot? And I said, well, I have dad, actually, you know, I've, um, that I, I live here in South Africa. I don't think I can, I didn't want to join the South African Air Force.
[00:01:46] Rick: Um, but, um, you know, he, he said to me, he said, well, you can, and that, those remarks changed my life basically because the next day I applied to join the Royal Air Force as a pilot.
[00:01:57] Michael: Wow. I mean, my next question was, was [00:02:00] there a defining moment that set you on the path to becoming a fighter pilot? But I assume.
[00:02:03] Michael: Maybe that was the,
[00:02:05] Rick: there was a defined there that, that, that set me on the path. I, I then I did, I did my, um, aptitude test at the university in Johannesburg. I did my medicals with the South African Air Force, and I did my interviews with the British Defense Liaison staff in Pretoria. And I'll never forget till you probably read in my book, sort of when, when I, you know, they'd done the interview, they had this lovely house, they had their own aircraft as well.
[00:02:29] Rick: Um, and they were flying off for a fishing weekend in, uh, Barto Land, um, that weekend. And, uh, they came out and said, well, congratulations Rick. You've, um, you know, we, we've, uh, selected you for pilot training. Uh, when would you like to sail? So I said, well, about six weeks time. 'cause we time for a holiday and said goodbye to a few people.
[00:02:48] Rick: So I had a magnificent two weeks on board Cape Town Castle, going from, uh, Cape Town to Southampton. Um, and then they said what we'd like to drink and I thought, well, this sounds, this was well for [00:03:00] the future. So that's what set me off. But becoming a fighter pilot. I obviously sort of wanted to emulate my father, who was a fighter pilot as far as I was concerned.
[00:03:11] Rick: But also I saw, I saw this brochure in South Africa that said, join the Royal Air Force in the world as your oyster. And on the front page there was a squadron of lightnings. And uh, and I met and I looked at that and the pilots were walking back from their aircraft. And I just looked at that, both the aircraft and the pilots.
[00:03:30] Rick: And I, I, I remember pointing my finger. I said, that is me. And, and from, so I was single-mindedly before I even joined. I set my heart on, uh, flying the lightning. Wow. Which, which I suppose in another, you know, the Concord is iconic in the commercial, um, world, but the lightning is iconic, like in the military world for, uh, for similar reasons.
[00:03:54] Rick: So that, that's, and I was, I was, I was very determined that I got, you know. [00:04:00]Fortunately, I worked hard. I worked very hard just like you have. Um, and uh, I was determined. In fact, when I went through my basic flying training, um. At the end of the course and I come top of the course, um, they said to me, the powers the B said to me, said, Rick, we, we are looking for people who've got good potential leadership qualities to go into and fly helicopters, which are all fairly new in those days.
[00:04:27] Rick: So, and uh, you know, we think you should go to helicopters and I. Not me. No, thank you. I, I want to be a fighter pilot like my father. So they said, well go away and think about it. So a week later they asked me the same question again and I gave 'em the same answer, you know, didn't have to think about it.
[00:04:43] Rick: And I just said, Nope, I wanna be a fighter pilot. So, um, you know, because I came at the top of the course, I, I got what I wanted. So
[00:04:52] Michael: how old were you at the time?
[00:04:55] Rick: When I arrived in the UK I was 20. Um, [00:05:00] so I was, I was 21 when they said that because my, my basic flying training took a year. I did officer training.
[00:05:06] Rick: First of all, um, I, I was too old to go to crumble. They told me that, they said we would've sent you to Mont if, if you, because the, the upper age limit for that was 19 and a half at the time. So it, it didn't affect me in any way. I, I did a four month officer training, uh, course and then went, did my basic flying training up at an airfield in, in Northumberland when they, I did officer training, was down at South Cerney in, uh, in Gloucestershire now, no longer in an airfield.
[00:05:38] Rick: Um. Flying airfield anyway. Um, and uh, I did my basic flying train face called Ton in Northumberland, which is no longer an airfield either. And I looked at the map and I thought, oh God, dear, where's that? And I thought, Northumberland, that's the other side of the world. So it looked like, but I had a fantastic year in Northumberland in thoroughly enjoyed it.
[00:05:59] Rick: And that [00:06:00] set me on, on the road.
[00:06:01] Michael: Can you tell us about your first solo flight and what went through your mind when you took off a loan for the first time?
[00:06:10] Rick: He was in a jet promised
[00:06:12] Michael: that was your first solo fly in a jet promised?
[00:06:13] Rick: That was my first, that was my first solo flight. That's insane. Uh, I, I, I was basically what they called a straight through jet jockey. Um, uh, for the first, I didn't fly a piston engine aircraft in the REF, uh, for my first 20 years of flying.
[00:06:29] Rick: Unbelievable. Um, they used, they used to have, well, before I joined. You, you started training on the chipmunk, but they were, did for a trial, which only lasts about six months. They, they tried just forgetting a chipmunk, putting people straight onto, onto the Jet Pro, which, which is what happened to me. So yeah, I was straight in the deep end, you could say.
[00:06:50] Rick: But the, the, I mean, I look at the Jet Pro now, it's like a dinky toy quite frankly. It was a, it was a good little training aircraft. Um. [00:07:00] You know, sort, it was all pretty new to me. Um, and, uh, I think it took about about 12 hours training with what you had to, to go solo, yet I went solo on time and uh, I re, I did my solo at a place called REF Busin in Northumberland.
[00:07:17] Rick: And I, you know. Obviously one really looks, it's, it's a milestone as you, as you well know, it's a great achievement, but it's quite, I look back at it now and it was quite a daunting prospect at the time. All of a sudden my instructor said, right, I'm climbing up Rick, you, you're off. I want you to do a, a circuit, a solo circuit and, and that well, you know, so yeah.
[00:07:43] Rick: And I just remember sort of getting in the air and thinking, wow. I'm now airborne all by myself. I've gotta get this back on the ground now. And I remember it was a bit of a crosswind that day as well. I remember sort of, uh, I remember my approach to landing and I thought, cool, [00:08:00]I'm crabbing in, looks like I'm gonna hit the runway caravan there, sort of a, anyway, I got it back on the ground.
[00:08:05] Rick: It was, um, I, I did take, I did take to the air like a duck to duck to water, if I'm quite honest.
[00:08:11] Michael: Well, that's amazing. 12, 12 hours in a, in a jet prove. I think it took me about 45 hours in a piston. In a, in assassin 1 52. So, uh, wow.
[00:08:20] Rick: And I had, but you, you know, mine was, uh, I, I was doing, um, flight after flight after flight, not one flight a week or anything like that, so, you know.
[00:08:31] Michael: Yeah. Well, I sudden that's pretty, pretty amazing. Pretty scary. But, uh, you've, uh, you've flown a variety of aircraft. Do you have a favorite and, uh, what makes it stand out?
[00:08:42] Rick: They're all favorites in many ways. Um, they, they are. I mean, if I've flown some fantastic aircraft Yes. Um, and, and they, they, it'd all been good.
[00:08:53] Rick: But if I, the lightning has to be my favorite and it's my favorite because it's what I wanted to fly. [00:09:00] It's, it's my favorite because it's a absolute delight to fly. It's like, it's, it's like a human rocket, quite frankly. But it is a, it was so powerful. It was a really powerful aircraft and it was just beautiful to fly and it was, um, a single seat aircraft, so I was flying it by myself.
[00:09:19] Rick: Um. Another aircraft that I loved flying was the Nat, you know, my, the, my second book, the Nat, which, which is what I did my advanced flying training on. And then, and then years later went and instructed on it. So I got over a thousand hours on the Nat. I got 1500 hours on the lightning. Um, and I know that in commercial terms, that doesn't sound very much, but when you're, when your, your average 40 length is 40, 50 minutes.
[00:09:47] Rick: It's quite a lot. Wow. Um, but the Nat, which was a supersonic trainer and really the perfect, perfect, um, trainer for the Lightning, um, that was like a real sports car. That was just a [00:10:00] beautiful aircraft. Uh, but the Phantom, hopefully the Phantom, that was a real war, war machine. It was a war machine. It was probably, yeah, it was a real war machine.
[00:10:10] Rick: That one. And then the, the tornado. The tornado was a pure delight to fly the quietest cockpit, the the easiest to fly of, of them all, quite frankly. And, um, yeah, a highly capable aircraft. I, I mean, every aircraft I've flown, I've loved flying it.
[00:10:28] Michael: Right? Just, they all have their own characteristics.
[00:10:32] Rick: They all have their own characteristics, even, you know, sort of, uh, when I left the Air Force in year 2000 and then I had a commission in the RF volunteer reserve.
[00:10:41] Rick: And, um, you know, I used, I used to fly with an air experience flight in a, in a, in an aircraft. Well, initially it was bulldogs and then Rob tutors, uh, where the top speed. Was about equivalent to the takeoff speed in most of the aircraft that I've flown. Um, but, but I love flying it. [00:11:00] Yeah. You know, it was, it was great.
[00:11:02] Rick: It was fully aerobatic. Yeah, it was.
[00:11:04] Michael: Well, I've got, um, I did a, did some hours on a, on a grub, and I did a, I did enjoy, but, um, I'm about to experience my first, uh, aerobatics, so with the UPRT course semi aerobatics. So. I seem, I seem to be okay with, uh, I quite like upset recovery training when, when you do it in, uh, like on the IR and stuff.
[00:11:25] Michael: So, you know, we'll see. It's only three hours, so.
[00:11:29] Rick: Yeah. Well, I remember, you know, I know all about upset recovery training. Um. Well, I've, I've had a, although I've been a military pilot throughout, really, I've always had a very close association with commercial and general aviation as well, and still do. And uh, uh, one of my final jobs in the Air Force, I was the, the RA FS Inspector of Flight Safety, so director of Director of Flight Safety.
[00:11:57] Rick: So I had responsibility for aviation safety for the [00:12:00] whole Air Force, uh, that. Took me all over the world, quite frankly, and I met everybody and I, I, you know, was, I was in good friends with, for example, people like the um, um, safety aviation safety director for. Pretty airways and things like that. So, and, and so, and then, then of course the accidents that led to greater concentration on upset recovery, which upset recovery was something, quite frankly, as I went through my training on the jet provost and the net we did all the time, we did it in the air, um, with doing instrument flying, um, under a blind.
[00:12:40] Michael: It's good fun. It's, uh, it was, it's my favorite. It's my favorite type of flying. I think. I think I'm better when I can't see out the window.
[00:12:48] Rick: Well, the upset recovery training, it tests tests you as well because you've gotta solve a problem.
[00:12:53] Michael: Yeah. I quite, I quite en, I quite enjoy it. Um, I just hope my stomach can, uh, can handle the, it's, so I think [00:13:00] it's only a, an hour and 10 minutes of actual, um, you know, a little bit more than I will have done in a, you know, PA 28, let's put it that way.
[00:13:08] Michael: So,
[00:13:09] Rick: oh, you, you, you'll be all
[00:13:10] Michael: right. Yeah, well, it'll see that could be the, that could be the thing that just finishes it all off. But no, I think, uh, I'm, I'm excited. I'm looking forward to that. Um, so can you take us inside a particularly intense or high stakes mission you were involved in?
[00:13:26] Rick: Oh, I, I, I've done so many missions, but, um, I suppose, um, I, and I've done some interesting missions.
[00:13:34] Rick: I suppose probably the, the most interesting missions that I was involved in were, were the intercepts of, uh, Russian aircraft.
[00:13:44] Michael: Which leads me into my next question 'cause I, I kind of wasn't sure where you were, you'd respond, but I, you know, I did have that you were, you intercepted numerous Russian aircraft during the Cold War and, you know, could you share a particularly memorable interception and what it taught you about aerial diplomacy during [00:14:00] tense times?
[00:14:01] Michael: It was,
[00:14:01] Rick: well, in fact, I, I'll go a bit further back because when, when I was on, on. Lightnings when I was in, did my first operational tour on Lightnings in Germany. We had a battle flight where we had two, lightnings on five minutes readiness, uh, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
[00:14:19] Rick: And we were very, uh, uh, the, the, uh, base where I was at, which is our goodlow was very close to the border, so we were close to the other side, the closest airfield to the other side. And, um, we used to get scrambled a lot day and night. And even night. We were airborne. We were airborne from lying in a bed.
[00:14:37] Rick: You, you didn't really steep, you sort of doze, quite frankly. Um, and, and you're in full flying kit. Uh, you, you know, the hooter went, you were, you were off. And we, we'll be airborne in, in full, uh, just. Just over four minutes, probably just pretty quick. We were, and um, we had some very interesting scrambles.
[00:14:54] Rick: It was, it was either sort of, uh, we were either being tested by the other side, the, you know, the [00:15:00] Russians and East Germans. Then, uh, testing our reaction. See, see, you know, how quickly we could respond. But most of the time it was, um. To rescue light aircraft enough that it got lost and got close to the border, you know, they wouldn't wish to across the border, not in those days.
[00:15:20] Rick: So, and that would, that used to be very interesting because, uh, when you're intercepting in a, in an aircraft like the Lightning, which doesn't go much slower than 180 knots or so, and, and you're intercepting a light aircraft that's doing a hundred, 120 knots, well, you know, we'd have our radar, we'd come down, control our sort of overtake and, uh.
[00:15:40] Rick: You know, we go past it, um, on the right hand side in fact. And these lights, aircraft would, uh, would, would see us all I'll say is when they saw a 20 ton. Because the lightning's a big aircraft, a 20 ton lightning, um, fully armed going past it. They get the message, [00:16:00] we get their number as well. Wow. Um, and then, then we would, that wouldn't be it then.
[00:16:05] Rick: Then we go around and we, we'd stay in the area. Um. Watching them until they were out of the way. Uh, but that was, that was just Germany. Germany was exciting, but very different from when I was at, uh, in Scotland at RAF Lucas, in fact, flying phantoms now. Um, and we, I got scrambled a lot. We used to get scrambled a lot against the, the Russians.
[00:16:28] Rick: Um, the Russian bears and badgers in particular, um, that used to get airborne from a place called me banks up in, uh. Northern Russia and they come round the northern tip of Norway, sort of, uh, what we call the Cape. Um, we get more, we get better intelligence of them coming there. We were only, and, and, and we, we, we held a 10 minute readiness state rather than five minutes in Germany, because normally we had worn more notice.
[00:16:55] Rick: Um, but, um, we would always aim to [00:17:00] intercept these aircraft, um, over way out. 300 miles plus north of England, of, of, uh, of the uk. Rob, because of Scotland in, in a place called normally the Iceland Pharaohs gap. And the, and the job we were doing, it was very much a sort of coordinated job. We were working with the Americans coming out of Iceland and the Norwegians coming out of Norway.
[00:17:24] Rick: And, um, we'd always, we'd always go up there with tanker aircraft. And, um, an airborne early warning aircraft to sort of provide, uh, radar, um, information and what have you. But, and these bombers were, they would be doing a number of things. They'd be maybe on route to Cuba, um, maybe sort of, uh, because the North Atlantic is a very free area and the Russian fleet would be playing sort of, uh, submarines would be.
[00:17:55] Rick: In the Atlantic, they, and they might be sort of having an exercise with them, in [00:18:00] which case we'd watch what they were doing. Um, or they might be coming down to have a look at the oil fields in the North Sea. We'd obviously watch what they were doing there too, but more often we knew that they were simulating their war mission against the uk where they, they'd come towards the UK and and launch a standoff weapon.
[00:18:18] Rick: That's why we intercepted them so far out because they would, they, if it, if it in an actual war, they probability is they would be launching weapons from hundreds of miles away from the uk and our aim was to get them before then. But we, we get airborne and sometimes, sometimes we would speak to people, sometimes we would just get information coming through to us.
[00:18:41] Rick: Um, where to go. Who to meet up with I, where to find the tanker. Um, and we'd do everything silently. So nobody knew we were airborne. Um, it was day and night and it was all heights, and we always had to, we'd always [00:19:00] intercept these, uh, the Russians and, uh, we'd get very close to them. There, there was a minimum, a minimum range below which we weren't supposed to go.
[00:19:10] Rick: Um. It says here. Um, but, uh, the first thing you'd see on the back of this, uh, bomber, you know, you pick up on radar. Um, and it said as long as they, they, they had guns down the back end of the bomber as well, sort of, as long as the guns were pointing to the sky and not at me then, then that, because they had pretty potent weapons that sort of, uh, uh, guns.
[00:19:38] Rick: Could, could target me from quite some way out. So, but anyway, you know, this was, this was peace time and we were trying to prevent, um, any, anything, any flare up. So there was a diplomatic side to it. Most definitely. We, we'd obviously take photographs of these aircraft, which could be intercepting them. You know, we'd had to visually identify them at night [00:20:00] as well as day.
[00:20:00] Rick: And that, that can be interesting in a dirty, dark night. Um. There are ways of doing it and uh, we, we'd take photographs and have a good look at them. The intelligence people would, obviously, the photographs would mean nothing to me, except it was a nice photograph. But to an intelligent person, they'd have a close look at it and they'd see where the aerial were and things like that, and that would tell 'em a lot.
[00:20:24] Rick: So, but we used to be so far north, um, as I say. Five, 600 miles north of, uh, the uk. And uh, it was always interesting because every intercept was different. Sometimes you were intercepting a soul aircraft, sometimes you were intercepting. Six, eight aircraft Wow. At, at any height from sea level, sort of up to whatever height they could go to.
[00:20:50] Rick: Um, and you, we would, uh, intercept and then we would stay with 'em. We'd shadow them probably as a pair, sometimes as a singleton, depends what situation was. [00:21:00] Um, and we'd, as I say, every now and again, one of us would have to go up to the tanker to refuel. Um, come back again. Uh, and then, you know, as soon as they sort of turned away and started heading north again, but, uh, they, they had, um, range limitations as well and dearest limitations, then we'd recover back to the, back to Scotland, back to base at Lucas.
[00:21:23] Rick: But the average 40 length was probably six to seven hours.
[00:21:27] Michael: Wow. I struggled to, to think of sitting inside a plane these days for more than about an hour and a half.
[00:21:33] Rick: The long, the long, the longest sortie I've done in, in, in a single sitting on an ejection seat was in a tornado, actually 10 and a half hours.
[00:21:41] Rick: Wow.
[00:21:42] Michael: I've ask you personal questions now, but I'm curious as to what do you do if you need the loo?
[00:21:49] Rick: Yeah. All I'll say was, um, we had facilities for, um, um, relieving ourselves. We, we, we had what, what they were known as Piddle packs.
[00:21:58] Michael: Piddle
[00:21:59] Rick: packs. But you [00:22:00] did, but you did have to sort of, because you were strapped into ejection seat, you probably have to put the pins in and sort of unstrap yourself and, and arrange, arrange yourself to, to do, to do the necessary, should say.
[00:22:12] Rick: Right. Okay. But I can honestly say. It was difficult. Um, and in, in my whole flying career, which is 45 years, um, I only used a piddle pack once.
[00:22:27] Michael: Unbelievable.
[00:22:28] Rick: I, what I'm saying was, if, if at all possible, I would not use it on this one occasion, I needed to use it.
[00:22:34] Michael: I've only, I've only had to experience it once, and that was on a five and a half hour flight in Greece coming back from, um, Crete.
[00:22:43] Michael: To Alexandru and it was just five and a half hours straight over. Uh, and I was flying with a Greek military pilot. And, um, I was prepared. I did have a, like a, you know, a bedside kind of bottle thing that you'd use for, uh, use for the car. Um, [00:23:00] and it was just an emergency, but he could tell after about three and a half hours I was looking slightly uncomfortable and he was kind.
[00:23:06] Michael: Are you okay? Yeah. I, I've, any, any done that one. But I have a, I have, after that experience, I did purchase one for our aircraft. So, uh, we have, so technically it's a pH 28 with a toilet, but, oh,
[00:23:19] Rick: well, at least you had the luxury of a bottle. Uh, my, my luxury was a with, with a bag.
[00:23:25] Michael: Oh, right. Okay. See, I, I thought they would've, uh, come up with something, uh, better.
[00:23:29] Michael: I thought. They're like astronauts, if you like, surely they have things built into the suit or.
[00:23:34] Rick: Obviously. So the real, the real, the real problem came when the REF started having female pilots Yes. On the air, like tornado, definitely a little bit bit because the, uh, the, you know, the aircraft were not actually sort of mainly really designed for females, not, not to mention the flying kit they were wearing.
[00:23:52] Rick: So there's some, you know, you get some in interesting sort of talks from, uh, I, I've got, I know the, the, [00:24:00] the first female. Fast jet pilot in the RF gives a very, very illuminating talk about her experiences.
[00:24:08] Michael: All right,
[00:24:08] Rick: and who's, who's that? Sorry. Her name is Joe Holter. I was with Joe Joe only last night.
[00:24:14] Michael: So did you, did you fly with Joe or did you
[00:24:17] Rick: I, I, our, um, air Force careers were sort of down different routes.
[00:24:21] Rick: In fact, well times they were same, but at different times. She younger than me. Um, but I did fly with her because, um, she used to fly with me on the air experience flight, you know, when we were both left, the Air Force, she was the one female. Um, on the, um, on the flight. All I could say was she held her own pretty well.
[00:24:39] Michael: Yeah. Um, sure. Can you, can you share an instance where you face a significant leadership challenge and how you overcame it?
[00:24:48] Rick: Well, I suppose I enjoy leadership. I'll say that from the outside. I, I've always enjoyed, it's not just the power, it's, it's being in charge. It's being sort of, it's being, I, [00:25:00] I like being a decision maker and, and, um, you know, leading from the front.
[00:25:04] Rick: I do, uh, that's, that's where I feel best. Um, but I remember sort of, you know, when I, I, I did the REF staff College back in 1983, which was a one year, one year course. And I came out and I got promoted and I got the plum job really, which was to go and, um, be the first squadron commander on the first, um, squadron to form of the, um, fighter version of the tornado.
[00:25:31] Rick: And I had, and I also had the job of introducing the aircraft into REF Service. Which was a real challenge right from the start. And um, and I remember I was building up a squadron from only a few of us initially to a squadron of, we had 22 aircraft in the end, and, and I had over 300 engineers and about 60, 70 air crew.
[00:25:55] Rick: And I remember thinking, you know, yeah, I'm, I'm a wing commander now. I'm, I'm, uh, [00:26:00] um, and I've got the squad, the squadron. I better become a responsible person. I sort of said to myself, so I, so, you know, I spent a week being this responsible person, trying to model myself on how I thought. I, you know, basically, I still think better stop being somebody.
[00:26:17] Rick: More responsible. Basically at the end of the first end of that week, I said to myself, now is that working? And I very quickly made the, the, the right decision. I said, no, it's not working. And that taught me a big lesson right at the start. 'cause I suddenly sort of realized, I said, you've got here by being who you are, why should you suddenly turn into, into somebody different from you?
[00:26:44] Rick: So, so I'll be myself. And, and, and that was really good advice I gave to myself and it's advice I passed on to many people who said to me, who've asked me, who said, what's your advice, Rick, for, for, uh, this leadership role? And I say, [00:27:00] be yourself. Simple as that
[00:27:03] Michael: is, which is, which is good. Unless, unless you happen to a person that, uh, can't get along with anybody, then, uh, then you may have a problem.
[00:27:10] Michael: But.
[00:27:11] Rick: Well that, yeah, but if somebody can't get along with anybody, dare I say it, they probably wouldn't get into that position in the first place. Yeah. If, uh, if those who are sort of, uh, choosing do the thing, I mean, I, I don't mind admitting, I, I thrive on, uh, social contact. I've always regarded myself as a people first.
[00:27:29] Rick: I like people. Um, and, and I like dealing with people. I always, and you know, and I like the challenge of dealing with people and it's never, never the same. I mean, I, I look at the, the tornado again, you know, when I introduced that the fighter version in the early days as most REF aircraft coming into service straight from the, from industry, you, there are problems, you know, you, you get teething problems.
[00:27:55] Rick: And we had problems. Um, and the tornado fighter was [00:28:00] a two seat aircraft and quite a few of the. Remaining lightning pilots were coming onto the tornado, coming from, you know, I spent the first 10 years of my flying career, flying single seat aircraft. It wasn't until I started flying the phantom, which was after 11 years in fact, that I suddenly had, um, another crew member in my aircraft.
[00:28:20] Rick: Um, a navigator, well, I call them fighter gators, in fact. Um, and that takes a bit, you, so you, all of a sudden, I was in an environment, I was at a bigger squadron, many more aircrew. I had somebody else in the air, in the aircraft with me. I wasn't doing it all myself. You were doing it as a crew. So you had to learn, you had to learn how to do it as a crew.
[00:28:40] Rick: Um, I, you know, one does, I, I did. Um, and, and there's no doubt about it that, uh. Efficient Crew is, is a very effective, uh, team. Um, but I had some of, some of the lightning pilots that came in, we did have the problems with the aircraft. They really had difficulty settling down. [00:29:00]Uh, they. They, they make their abuse felt that that was, um, quite a, it was, it was a situation, it was a leadership situation, a management situation.
[00:29:10] Rick: You just, you just manage. In fact, indeed one of the particular pilots who's a, a good guy, really good guy, but he, he left the Air Force some years later and went to, flew for Cafe Pacific. I saw him not so long ago and he said, hi, hi Rick. And I said, hi, and, and he said sort of, um, I, I realize now sort of what a problem I must have caused you, sort of back when you were my squadron commander.
[00:29:33] Rick: So I said, no, you didn't. That's not a problem. It was just a challenge.
[00:29:38] Michael: Absolutely. Was how has military aviation changed? Uh, or, or how did it change from when you first started flying? Uh.
[00:29:50] Rick: It changed. I mean, just looking at my, my, my career, I honestly feel that, um, that I and [00:30:00] my colleagues had, had, had the best, the best time because we flew some fantastic aircraft.
[00:30:06] Rick: When I joined the, uh, first, first way it's changed was when I joined the REF in 1965. It was 140,000 strong. When I left the REF in year 2000, it was 31,000 strong. That's that. So, you know, it changed in numbers. It changed in numbers of squadrons. There've been huge reduction. Of course by this stage. The defense cuts were coming through after the Cold War.
[00:30:36] Rick: That's another issue, which, um, I could discuss. But, um, that was one big change. Another big change was the, obviously technology had really sort of started to, so I mean, as I went through, you know, from the, the hunter to the lightning, um, to the phantom, to the tornado, every, every step [00:31:00] was, was a technology, a technology change.
[00:31:03] Rick: Uh, you know, the tornado, for example, just to give you a little example. Was very much a computer driven aircraft. Um, and on the radar, you know, we could, we could track many more targets than I could on earlier aircraft. Um, every, so what I'm saying was, is that every time, every new aircraft I, I flew.
[00:31:27] Rick: Technology had moved forward and the capability had moved forward with it, quite frankly. So that was another big change. Another another big area of change was, um, I think professionalism as well. You know, I think, uh, I honestly believe that the Air Force that I left was a much more professional air force and perhaps the Air Force when I joined and there was, it was bloody, it was great fun back in 1965, but, um, there was.
[00:31:56] Rick: There was a fairly carefree attitude in, in, in some places, and [00:32:00] so I think the professionalism had improved greatly and, um, flight safety had improved greatly as well. I mean, I, I give you an example. I gave a talk at the Royal Aeronautical Society when I was, um, inspector of Flight Safety about the REF.
[00:32:17] Rick: And back in 1946, the first year after the war, the REF lost over a thousand aircraft in flying accidents. Non-combat related flying accidents. In the 1950s, the RAF was still losing about 300 plus aircraft a year. In the 1970s, they were losing about 40 or so aircraft a year. By the time I left, um, they were losing.
[00:32:44] Rick: A handful of aircraft per year. And now, um, it's, it's, well, they haven't, they don't have that many aircraft quite frankly. But, um, and, and of course when you're talking about the cost of some of the aircraft, you really can't afford to throw those aircraft away. Right. Um, [00:33:00] a accidents are very, very rare. But I would say, I think the Air Force itself is a significantly different air force from the one I joined.
[00:33:13] Rick: Um, it has its pluses and it has its minuses. Two.
[00:33:17] Michael: Yeah. Well, with, uh, you know, we've got, with the rise of drone technology and ai, um, do you think we're moving towards a future without human pilots and combat aviation?
[00:33:29] Rick: Well, I think if I go back, I mean the, um, politicians have been saying, but since I joined the, the REF, that this is the, the last man fighter, we'll have.
[00:33:41] Rick: And we've still got man fighters, and the next fighter will probably be, have a capability of being manned or unmanned. So what I'm, what I'm saying is we are moving towards the unmanned aircraft, but it's taken a lot longer than was first predicted. Um, I drone technology [00:34:00]is very interesting, I think. And I think that is, that has a, an amazing future, um, as, as artificial intelligence does as well.
[00:34:08] Rick: So. Yes. That's part of the reason why I say, you know, my time in the REF was the best time because we flew a lot and we, we flew the aircraft. I mean, um, you know, these days some of the aircraft almost fly themselves. Yeah.
[00:34:28] Michael: Looking back on your career, is there a moment that stands out as the most rewarding?
[00:34:34] Rick: Well, my whole career was rewarding, if I'm quite honest. I think the most rewarding two, two times I would say in different ways. 1, 1, 1 was when I was, uh, introducing the tornado into the, into RF service, and I had two years to build up, uh, uh, this, this new, new aircraft on the first quadrant, uh, from scratch.
[00:34:56] Rick: And I, I did, I actually did my training with, um, [00:35:00] British Aerospace at their airfield at Wharton in Lancashire. Um. To, you know, and we had so many challenges in that time. I've always been a very can-do person. And when I say challenges, I mean, we had challenges with the aircraft. We had, it was a new aircraft, so everybody wanted to see it.
[00:35:18] Rick: Um, everybody wants to do things with it. Um, and I did too, but, um, I, I know some people thought I did. Too much there, but, but I'm a can-do man. And um, and we did, all I would say was that in that two years, not only did we achieve the aim, we got declared to NATO on time after to 31st of December 19, 19 86.
[00:35:43] Rick: Um, but we, uh, did every a bet, we met every challenge that came our way and we, that included. Quite a lot of challenges, um, outside the operational theater, you know, associated with going on, for example, going on, taking aircraft on a sales tour of the Middle [00:36:00] East. Um, little things, um, leading the leading the Queen's 60th birthday fly past over Buckingham Palace.
[00:36:08] Rick: Um, all those take, um, effort and time, um, and it was very, and they were very satisfying experiences as well. So that was a very challenging time. The second example I'll use was when I was, uh, by this stage I was a group captain and I was station commander of REF leaving, which was a big tornado base and, uh, at the start of the first Gulf War.
[00:36:33] Rick: Was saying invaded Q eight, and the decision was made to, uh. Um, send, send, fight. The, the UK was gonna take part and we, the UK was gonna send fighters to the Middle East. And I got a phone call from, uh, an air marshal sort of, and he said, Rick, you know what's going on in the Middle East? Um, and I said, yes.
[00:36:53] Rick: He said, well, you know, we're, we're looking to send some squadrons of, of fighters over there. And I said, yes. And he said, you, you [00:37:00] know, we're looking for somebody to go and lead, uh, a whole lot. I said, yes. And he said, well, you're the man. Get your backside down here for a briefing for the commander in chief this afternoon.
[00:37:10] Rick: Um, and you'll be flying out tonight. Wow. Um, and, uh, that was at, uh, 10 o'clock in the morning. I, I, uh, called my deputy on the, on the base. I said, you got, you have control. I'm off. I went home to change into my combat kit and unfortunately my wife and children were there, so I was able to say goodbye to them.
[00:37:27] Rick: Uh, while I was getting changed, the dock came and sort of pumped my leg full of goodness. What? And I was given a. Um, uh, a, a gun, um, and I didn't know, but uh, there was an aircraft on its way up, picked me up an hour after that, I'd gone. So that was the start. And, you know, I had the, the briefing from the, from the commander in chief, he'd just come back from the cabinet and he said, well Rick, you know, this is a situation.
[00:37:53] Rick: You know, you, I dunno what you're gonna find. This is where you're going. Which was Saudi Arabia in fact. [00:38:00] And, um. I dunno where, I dunno what the situation is there. I dunno what you're gonna find, where you're gonna stay or anything. Um, he gave me, he, he, he didn't have to tell me. He said, there's, there's a whole group of specialists down at, um, RF line and waiting for you to arrive to be briefed.
[00:38:16] Rick: You'll all be flying out tonight. We flew out in Hercules. In fact, 3D and I briefed the two fighter squads as we passed through Cyprus. Um, I raised, that was just the start. What I'm saying is he gave me. In many ways, the best beef I've ever had. He gave me a clean sheet of white paper to go and lead, take control, and deal with the deal with the problem.
[00:38:40] Rick: And it was, uh, it was a, it was a fascinating experience because it was, uh, you know, we went from absolutely nothing to building up our capability. So I found that, I found that a very interesting experience and a very rewarding experience as well.
[00:38:59] Michael: Amazing. [00:39:00] So throughout your career, who were your mentors and how did they influence your approach to flying and leadership?
[00:39:07] Rick: Uh, well, the Battle of Britain pilots were my, my true mentors, really my heroes. And, you know, and my father always said to me, uh, play hard and work hard. And that's exactly what that, that to me was the typical Battle of Britain. Pilot, play hard, work hard and, and, um, so I, I flew hard. And I partied hard.
[00:39:30] Michael: I did.
[00:39:31] Michael: I, I, through, through your book. I got that. I definitely got that sense.
[00:39:37] Rick: Um, and at times of my life, I've played harder than I've, I've worked and at times of my life, I've worked harder than I played. It's all been, but it's, that's been, uh, been my, my philosophy. But, you know, I've had other mentors as well.
[00:39:51] Rick: I've, I've got. Personal year, right? I mean, like for example, when I joined my first, um, lightning squad, uh, operational [00:40:00] squadron, three years after joining the force, almost to the day, uh, there I was having come from my first trip in a, in a jet promised to now flying, uh, as I had been, I was now flying a, a supersonic, um, 20 ton.
[00:40:17] Rick: Jet, which I was totally in charge of, which, which had a back two capability and used to, we used to climb it, it could go supersonic in the climb. That's how powerful it was. Um, and, um, you know, I arrived on my first quad, which was a very famous wartime squadron. Number 92 was its number and, and, and, uh. I looked at all the combat ready pilots that were there, and they were all, I was in awe of them.
[00:40:45] Rick: I thought, well, here, I'm, you know, just come through training and, uh, that, that was the start. And, um, I, you know, I had a, a mentor on the squad and a chap looked after me and he'd been, he'd been the very first, what we call [00:41:00] first tour Lightning pilot. Uh, because when the lightning first came in, they only put very experienced pilots on it, and then they decided.
[00:41:08] Rick: We'll have a trial, we'll, we'll put sort of young first tour pilots on it, which was very, very successful. And quite frankly, um, half to two thirds of the squadron were f were exactly that fir young, young fighter pilots, you could say. Not too dissimilar from the Battle of Britain time, you know, where they had young pilots and they, and we were good.
[00:41:28] Rick: We were good. Amazing. Um, like they were, but my mentor. He's a personal friend, you know, and, and so he, he's, he, he taught me a lot and there've been people who've taught me a lot as I've gone through. There are people, people who I, I, I definitely look up to.
[00:41:45] Michael: If you could give advice to young people who dream of becoming fighter pilots today, what would it be apart from play your computer games and see if you can
[00:41:53] Rick: learn how
[00:41:54] Michael: to
[00:41:54] Rick: fly
[00:41:54] Michael: a
[00:41:54] Rick: drone, a different world?
[00:41:57] Rick: I, I think, I've gotta think, gotta think [00:42:00] carefully. I. On the one hand, I actually feel quite sorry for those coming in today because they're not gonna have the experiences that, that we had when we, we flew so much and we flew the aircraft these days. Uh, and understandably so, that technology's moved so far forward now that a lot of the flying is done in simulators.
[00:42:24] Rick: Um, where so much more can be done. Um, and they don't get the amount of flying that we, we got and, and as we've discussed already, sort of a and they don't get the ha in the hands on time that we had either. But that doesn't mean to say that it's, uh, any less of a, of a challenge. It's, it's a, it's always a challenge and with what's happening in the world, it's probably likely to get a sort of even greater challenge.
[00:42:51] Rick: My advice to a youngster would be Go for it. Go for it. Because it is, is a fantastic opportunity to, um, [00:43:00] to train as, to train as an REF pilot, whether you stay as an REF pilot or then move into the commercial world, it gives you, it, it gives you an ex excellent, uh, grounding for doing just that, quite frankly.
[00:43:12] Rick: Uh, or, or whatever. But, you know, you, you be, you become highly qualified. Um, the opportunities are great. I mean, the people you're working with are, I mean, if I look back at my career, I'd say I've flown some great aircraft. That's one thing. I've been to some amazing places around the world. That's the same thing.
[00:43:31] Rick: Um, I've, um, and I've, I've been, the camaraderie has been second to none. And, and the people I've been working with have been magnificent. Um, all of them, you know, they, they're so, there's so much to gain from it. Yeah. Probably a bit of a long-winded way of saying,
[00:43:50] Michael: well, no, that's, that's, that's just key. I mean, I think it's, it's fascinating to, uh, you know, say just the sensory reading book of how much you just seem [00:44:00] to have enjoyed everything that you have gone on to do and, and, and where, where every, everything kind of led you.
[00:44:06] Michael: It just seemed like, and the next thing was just, you know, maybe different but enjoyable. And then another thing came along and another thing, it was just, uh, fascinating. I know the, the, the, the kind of subpart along the way when you talked about the accidents that kind of have, have slimmed down, um, you know, sort of reading the, uh, the early pages, uh, you know, sort throughout that you, you lost a lot of people along the way.
[00:44:29] Michael: Um. It almost seemed like it was quite a regular occurrence in those early days.
[00:44:34] Rick: It, it was. I mean, and, and it's never pleasant. Never pleasant. When you and I lost my own cousin was killed in a, um, an aircraft accident in the RAF, like a Canberra. Um, and I've seen so many of, so many good people, good friends, uh, who are no longer here and yeah, if you miss them all, but the other thing, I mean, one particular squadron I was on where we.
[00:44:59] Rick: In, [00:45:00] in three months, we, we had, we lost two aircraft, um, and two crew in each aircraft. So that was four, four air crew in, in two months. That sort of thing can, can have a se serious impact on Squadron Morran.
[00:45:17] Michael: Did, uh, did, did people, uh, leave, um, as a result of things like that happening or.
[00:45:24] Rick: No. In general, no. I mean, you, I I'm not saying that over my career, I haven't seen people sort of, uh, decide it's not for them, but it's, it's, it's, they're, they're, they're few and far between and they're normally good reasons for us as well.
[00:45:38] Rick: Um, no, I mean, you know, you, we, when we join we know, we know the environment we're in. We, we know that, um, there are risks there. You know, cer certainly when you're younger, I don't remember ever being ever having ever feeling fear. Wow.
[00:45:56] Michael: Pretty, pretty good, uh, asset to have, I would've thought. [00:46:00]
[00:46:00] Rick: Yeah. Well, I say two things. I, yeah. Particularly when you're young. I mean, when you're young, people don't have the fear that they probably have when they think more later on. Um, but one thing that I. We'll always remember is, and and there's a company called Martin Baker.
[00:46:18] Rick: You've probably heard of them. Um, my favorite company by a long, long way. Why? Because throughout my flying career, which was all spent on the ejection seat. Um, they provided me with that ejection seat and the knowledge that I always had. This, um, final thing that I could do. It's a last, last thing that I could eject from the aircraft.
[00:46:41] Rick: Was, uh, was, was a great, was, was a feeling of comfort, quite frankly.
[00:46:47] Michael: But, but you never had to pull the cord, thankfully.
[00:46:50] Rick: Yep. Now I can honestly say that, uh, in my 7,000 flying hours, um. Over 45 years. Every takeoff was followed by a [00:47:00] landing,
[00:47:02] Michael: or in my case, any, any London that we walk away from is a, is a good landing.
[00:47:07] Rick: Well, I agree. I won't, I won't say that the odd landing I had count couldn't be counted as two or three landings.
[00:47:13] Michael: Uh, I'm, I'm in the, I'm in the same floating boat, so I've got some quick fire questions for you. So you probably have already answered, uh, one of them. Some of 'em are a, a fair, a bit more random for, for the military side of things, but, um, your favorite aircraft, and that can be across military or commercial, but or both.
[00:47:34] Michael: So, your favorite military aircraft.
[00:47:36] Rick: My favorite military aircraft is the Lightning
[00:47:39] Michael: and your favorite commercial aircraft? Concord. So you got the thumbs up there with traveling your favorite airport.
[00:47:50] Rick: My favorite airport. Um, I've been through some very nice airports, but I, I thought Vancouver was a nice airport.
[00:47:58] Michael: I've not been. I'll add it to my [00:48:00] list. Mm. I'm gonna name three airlines. Uh, and just say the first thing that comes to mind. So, uh, this one's possibly a little bit more to your background, whether you did fly, I'm not sure, south African Airways.
[00:48:14] Rick: Lots of friends of, of South African Airways, you know, old colleagues, new South African Airways, well
[00:48:20] Michael: out the new one.
[00:48:21] Michael: Good.
[00:48:22] Rick: Uh, the, the, uh, it's, I think it's very sad to see what's happened to South African Airways.
[00:48:27] Michael: Yeah. It was one of the biggest airlines in the world. And then yeah. COVID kind of, um, yeah. Finish it off, but, you know, let's, let's hope that they can, uh, get it back again.
[00:48:40] Rick: Well, I mean that, uh, in the full form that would lead, talking about South African Airways would, would probably lead us to get into political territory.
[00:48:48] Michael: Yeah. Well, we'll, we'll leave it there. KLM
[00:48:52] Rick: good airline. Um,
[00:48:54] Michael: EasyJet,
[00:48:55] Rick: EasyJet, good airline. And actually I was nearly headhunted into, uh, [00:49:00]EasyJet. So right back at the start, um, I was, I was, uh, a headhunter got onto me and, um, when I was. Inspector of Fly Safety in the REF and they, I was nearly recruited to become a director of safety for EasyJet, and at that stage it was very new.
[00:49:17] Rick: They, they were just taking delivery of their first four aircraft. I had had it, but um, I, I did actually didn't actually want to leave, so it was a bit of a test for me.
[00:49:27] Michael: All right. You were still in the REF at the time?
[00:49:29] Rick: I was still in the REF. Right. Okay. I think the, I had an, I had an interview with the then chief executive and I think he felt that, uh, he wasn't sure that I would fit into the environment coming out of an environment where I had my own staff and secretary and things like that into more environment in probably an open, open plan office like they all had Then, um, where I was fending for myself, that would've been fine by me, but I understood where he was coming from.
[00:49:59] Rick: A [00:50:00] good friend of mine became, uh, chief Pilot with, uh, EasyJet as well.
[00:50:04] Michael: Oh, right. That's not James McBride. I'm not sure whether you know James. He, he was like the face of the EasyJet program at the beginning.
[00:50:11] Rick: Is, is that, wasn't James McBride, although his name rings a bell. No, the, the chap I'm thinking of, he was New Zealand, a chap in fact called, chap called Michael Keen.
[00:50:19] Michael: Oh, right. Okay.
[00:50:21] Rick: Retired. Retired some time ago now.
[00:50:24] Michael: James' James' books are interesting 'cause there are the, the almost a collection of other pilot stories and they're all kind of short stories. Um, really, really good. He is written about three or four books. They're really, really good, really interesting. Um, and I did get to meet him 'cause he did a talk at, uh, Manchester, at the Von Park.
[00:50:44] Michael: So, um, again, I kind of reached out to people when I was doing my training, my studying, 'cause I'm, 'cause I am a bit older, that's po possibly my biggest hangup is my, my kind of age. You now feel like it limits me, but it's actually quite interesting to see the Easy Jet are actually recruiting, um, [00:51:00] older people.
[00:51:00] Michael: So we've got a second lease of life.
[00:51:03] Rick: I think, I think you've got, I mean, you're not even 50 yet. I think you've got, uh, plenty of opportunity in front of you. I mean, I, I just wish I was, uh, um, back at that age, quite frankly. Um, but I, but I do know people who've, um, you
[00:51:16] Michael: know, who've,
[00:51:18] Rick: who've started,
[00:51:19] Michael: started careers late on in life.
[00:51:21] Michael: Yeah. Well, it's a, as I say, it's a, they're looking at like a more, uh, experienced, mature group of people into roles like that because, you know, you, your kids are potentially left home and, you know, you've sort of experienced life and you're, uh, you're ready for a new challenge. So we'll sort of see, but I mean, the, the ultimate thing potentially be to actually fly.
[00:51:46] Michael: An aircraft on my own terms. So, um, because, 'cause I've worked, technically worked for myself for the last better part of 30 years. Um, I'm, I'm, I'm possibly unemployable in certains of ways, but I guess the kind of, uh, the [00:52:00] leadership skills and the, the people skills I've developed over life, I'm, I'm just.
[00:52:04] Michael: I'm just waiting, you know, watching where the journey goes. So I'm just,
[00:52:08] Rick: I'm just enjoying every moment. I understand that. I mean, I would talk about that. I mean, uh, I, I've spent 25 years outside the, the RF now. I, I had a, a, a fascinating career, um, which I enjoyed 100% in the REF, but, um, I would ne, you know, I've, I've had a very interesting career since I left as well.
[00:52:29] Rick: Which I've equally enjoyed. It's been challenging and it's been interesting. I would never have predicted the way things worked out at all.
[00:52:40] That was Rick Peacock Edwards, whose expansive career in the Air Force can captured fully. In one podcast episode, you can read more about Rick's life stories in his books, Nat Bo Rate of Climb, and his recent memoirs of his father entitled Teddy Peacock Edwards, battle Britain Pilot, and Second World War Ace.
[00:52:58] This episode was produced and [00:53:00] edited by Stewart Anthony. Original music by mood mode. I'm Michael Aaron and you've been listening to The Flight Pod.
[00:53:11] Michael: If you've enjoyed this episode of The Flight Pod, please be sure to subscribe and leave us a review. It really helps us reach more listeners. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram at the Flight pod uk where you can send us a DM with your questions, comments or feedback.
[00:53:25] Michael: We'd love to hear from you. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on the Flight Pod.