On Sunday, January 6, 2019 at 11:30:33 AM UTC-8, Duster wrote:
From Lasham Gliding:

"We are sad to announce that one of our UK (and Lasham) gliding legends has passed away.

Derek Piggott MBE enjoyed a very full and happy life for 96 years and passed away this afternoon with Maria at his side, in the Princess Alice Hospice having suffered a severe stroke on the 15th December. Up until then, he was fiercely independent, still drove and visited (and flew) recently here at Lasham.

Many of you will have known him personally and all will know his reputation as a fantastic glider pilot, instructor and aviation writer. He had flown over 5,000 hours on over 150 types of powered aircraft, and another 5,000 in more than 180 different gliders. Included in those flights were several stunts for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines and Von Richthofen and Brown (The Red Baron). He was Chief Flying Instructor here at various times between 1953 and 1989, and set various national records including the single seat altitude record of over 25,000' in an active thunderstorm in a Slingsby Skylark; and completed a Nationals 505Km task in a Fedorov Me7 Mechta glider at the age of 81.

He will be sorely missed, having made huge contributions that have made Lasham and Gliding as a whole as safe and successful as it is today. We pass our heartfelt condolences to his family."

Sad news.

I had the pleasure of meeting and flying with Derek Piggot once.

It was 1994 and I was visiting the US for a few weeks business in Phoenix. I quickly went to Turf Soaring north of the city and got signed off for passengers and cross country in their ASK21 and took a number of my Phoenix acquaintances gliding. One day I decided to check the "other" gliding operation south of the city. I'd just parked my car and was walking to the clubrooms when an older man passed in the opposite direction and gave me a rather plummy "Good Afternoon". I took about five more steps while my brain processed this, then stopped and turned and said "Uh ... Mr Piggot?" "Yesss?" I established that he was doing some flying there and arranged to take a flight with him in a Grob the next day.

He would have only been 71 then. And me 31.