Thanks to Graham Pitchfork, I had the opportunity of having a long telephone conversation with Bob Large a decade or so ago, he is still the only man I’ve been able to speak to who flew from RAF Great Sampford (though I have also spoken to a man who dropped jeeps on it…). He was charming, funny, and quite happy to chat about what frankly were marginalia in the pages of his life. I particularly recall his mentioning that the mess was so small that it didn’t have a billiard, or even a pool, table, but instead had that game with the nine skittles and the ball on a string, and ferocious competition at the unlikely sport resulted as no-one wanted to be beaten!

RIP and thank you.

Adrian