Perhaps the highlight of Basil’s flying career was as a navigator on the iconic V-winged Vulcan bomber. It was  much admired by those who flew in it for its speed and mobility (it could barrel-roll and loop!), which belied its size. From the outside, a Vulcan looks enormous (it’s the same size as a Boeing 737, but looks much bigger because of the delta wings), but inside the cabin is cramped and claustrophobic. And there was a particular problem for the navigator and other ‘rear seaters’ who, unlike the pilots, didn’t have ejector seats and so in an emergency had to escape via a shielded door in the floor and then parachute to safety.

At the time Basil was flying, the Vulcans were on the front-line of Britain’s nuclear deterrent, and so this involved many exercises when they were scrambled at short notice, sometimes in the middle of the night on the signal of a wailing siren. For me, as a young boy growing up on a very active airbase this was all very exciting.  But what I remember best was waking up the morning after Dad’s return from a flight, as he would invariably bring me back his flying rations, untouched and all neatly packaged – it was like Christmas morning repeating itself throughout the year!