Forgive me if I have already told the tale but my memory is not getting any better. In 1962 I was droning around the Oakington area with my patient instructor in a Varsity. ATC called us and asked us to set off in a NE'ly direction to see if we could see a balloon that had broken loose from Cardington. After a while and no contact my instructor asked them what was so important about the balloon? "Apparently, the Met Man is still in it" came the reply! I believe he got down somewhere in East Anglia undamaged just before he ran out of England.