To think this man was stretching the actuality ?

[Wickeddevil]

Went for a curry last night to a local Indian, where the tables are closely packed together, and so were able to enjoy the conversation of the couple next to us. I am guessing that man is mid 50's and lady around 40. They appeared to be on their first date.

Here are some excerpts

Well I did 2 years national service in the raf. (Note raff not R A F or airforce) and then became a fighter pilot.

I was called up again in 1987 for the Faulklands because they were short of fighter pilots. (That'll probably be because everyone else went home in 1982)

His tattoo (numbers) was the number of the squadron he led

I have never been married (I'll allow him that one) and my house is set in 90 acres, and I have lots of horses.

He did talk rather more knowledgeably about second hand Mercedes though....

She has landed a gem hasn't she?

My dad referred to the RAF as the 'raf' and he did 30 years service.

The bloke may well have been in the RAF but unlikely he was a fighter pilot, especially as they tend to be very intelligent and the fact that he thought the Falklands was in 1987 doesn't bode well for that one.

He won't have done National Service as that went out in about 1956/57 I think.

Basically she's either going to have to keep seeing him to sort out what was actual lies or write him off as an utter tosser straight away.

I'd go for the latter option.

The youngest National Servicemen were born in 1938.

I hope she has a functional bullshit-detector.

I wonder if 'lady around 40' will post on here later about her awful date.

I loves good earwigging me. What did she say?

I loves good ' a ' earwigging

Actually I think she might have been a gold digger... She is going to be disappointed isn't she?

I loves a good earwigging me.

I give up (FFS)

Jam am, I think she was trying to get him to upgrade her car to a Mercedes, but all the variation of clk vs slk wasn't as interesting as the fighter pilot anecdotes so I wasn't paying much attention at that point.

That was meant to say JamNam FFS could have been Sam I am I spose

People in the raf pronounce it 'raff', and there are still fighter aircraft in the Falklands now - have been a constant presence since the conflict.

What planes did he say he flew? That would be the best indicator, phantoms were there until early 90s.

My friend had one of these - reams of absolute bullshit about being in the SAS, (erm, you're not supposed to tell anyone if you're in the SAS.......), having pots and pots of money which he could never actually access, oddly enough, and other gems. All her friends saw through him, unfortunately she wouldn't listen and ended being conned out of thousands. Her bullshit meter is more finely tuned these days....

My father went to fix fighter planes in the Faulklands when I was 3, so 1987.

ICan My dad was out there as an RAF engineers at the same time as yours. The fighting was over but there were a lot of them still around.

My Dad missed National Service by 6 months - he is 74 in August...liar liar pants on fire

I was fixing fighter planes there in 2008, they're still there now.

Youngest national service person born 1939, therefore in 1987 they would have been 48; raf personnel can serve until age 55, so perfectly feasible actually.

The 1st phantom aircraft came into service in 1967, so if this bloke could have been 28 and flying phantoms.

Whether it was bullshit or not, his story does actually have factual basis!

Thanks, Scarlett, I was thinking the same myself. Mount Pleasant was opened in 85, operational in 86, so he could well have been there doing what he said, when he said. I have a friend who retired when 23 Squadron was disbanded at Mount Pleasant, so I too know there were fighters there.

And if OP misjudged his age, and we're talking a fit active 80 year old passing for a 60 year old.... well, he could have been full of it, but it would be iffy to say so based on his dates. I'd have him for the 'short of pilots' bit! Total tosh, the number of youngish men who were transferred to other squadrons with their mission tells you that! Friend wasn't the only one who retired with 23, but about half the squadron was redeployed.

Perhaps the OP just guessed his age wrong, maybe he is very well preserved seventy-something?

Nomama, he was probably a cook or something in the raf and concocted this fantasy life!

In fact, if he was around 60, then it could easily have been his dad or an uncle who was a pilot - did national service, stayed in and went to MPA. Johnny Bullshit (the crap talking 60 something diner) has used the basic facts, but made them fit around his own life - that would explain being 'called up' in 1987.

It's all very intriguing!

It is isn't it?

He has just enough lesser known info to make it sound 'almost'....

Pity we will never know... unless.... OP COULD YOU READ HIS TATTOO NUMBERS and did you remember them?

Now, did he say squadron leader.... or flight.... Oh, I give in.... it's all a bit too much Marple

Maybe he knew you were listening and fed you a line on purpose. I've done that when I suspected someone was listening to me in a similar situation.

Legal liability to National Service was all men born in or before 1939, but most men born in 1938 were not called and no men born in 1939.

My father was born in 1939 Andrew, and he did his two years National Service.

But he would be 91.

My dad too youthecat and he went to the Falklands.

Andrew, the numbers still work for a national service person to be still serving in 1987, anything after a 1932 birthdate in fact.

Billy Bullshit has got his obscure facts correct, but not tied them into his actual age now; he would have to be between 81 and 75 now to have joined under national service, and be serving in 1987 (assuming born between 1932 & 1938 and still to have bday this year). That's why I think he's loosely based some aspects of his life around someone he knows well (probably his dad).