As a younger man in the late forties, experienced aviators said to me, "There's only one firm to join, and that's Hawkers; they make the finest pilots' aeroplanes." How right that proved to be and to me it was a great honour and a pleasure to fly those aircraft and to appreciate the brilliant team that made it possible, with one success after another, terminating with the Harrier and Hawk, both of which hit the US jackpot against all comers.

An old Australian WWII pilot friend, 'Bush' Cotton, having recently read the RAeS fifty year anniversary book on the Hurricane, thanked me for it and said, "I read every page. I can see now why I was able to trust the machine more than any other aircraft I have flown before it or since." That is the true hallmark stamped on all 'Hawker' aeroplanes.

And thank you, Ron, for all you did personally to enhance this reputation by putting everything you had in terms of tenacity and ability to see that the RAF, RN and other pilots had the very best.

Yours sincerely.            Bill