Some elements. Not many, but we had the high set instrument binnacle which stood just above the radar, which unfortunately is missing in your reconstruction. This should not in any way be seen as criticism, I realise there have to be limitations in what you can do.

A very sad loss of a real gentleman and hero

Good news. When you mentioned this tank on Sunday you were rushing off to the pub.

Was that to arrange to fill the tank with best bitter?

Now I’ve learnt something else, never knew there were those smoke vents. I remember being very disappointed the first time we went air firing that I couldn’t see puffs of smoke, just thought it was obscured by the engine nacelles. Just a few dull thuds which would be followed by lots of moaning from the pilot if a gun stopped, which was not uncommon. The guns being in the wing caused a yaw if one stopped, made worse because we only fired 2 guns at a time. This was because on live firing only 100 rounds were carried, 50 per gun. We navs reckoned that was the only way pilots would be able to calculate percentages when the time came to score the targets.

Did I tell you about the 13 consecutive barrel rolls, the last two or three were pretty wild and wooly, his excuse being that it was at night and the natural horizon was not good. Also the loop where we returned about 180 degrees off the direction we started, again at night so again the lack of an horizon got the blame. One day he found a book which gave performance figures, 595 mph at 10,000′, service ceiling 43,000′. I duly twiddled the computor and we just about scrambled the 595 mph. Directional control was lost at the assumed 43,000, but reworking my figures later with the true temperature at height gave 46,000′.

A favourite trick was to perform an upward barrel roll in frong of a target after finishing the interception. He did this to the CO one night and was hurt to get a ticking off.

We had to be the best!

I have to make an awful confession, with my advancing years as an excuse, I am now not able to get my leg over.

A real hero. RIP