Bloody hell Forget! I stand in awe! We pulled a few stunts, but never like that. I actually got into the Officer's Mess at Cottesmore, but it was in 1989 on a UK vist and it was legal! It was also full of Germans and Italians! Those oil painting of the Victors that used to be in SHQ are hanging there, in the ante room.
I believe at that time that CO's of Stations used to fly, and Johnnie Johnson certainly did. I saw a Victor do a 'buzz and break' one day, and recall the tower saying it was the CO! He certainly flew the Station Anson. It never happened to me, but I gather he used to throw 'grouse beater' parties for the lineys who had been doing the beating, somewhere around Melton Mowbray. He seemed an affable type, he was replaced [1961-2?] by a Gp Captain Martin, whom he introduced on the handover., with the comment, "these chaps will look after you".
I actually met JEJ again, at the Wanaka Air Show in New Zealand about four or five years ago, and reminded him we had met before.
The best memory of all of course is the totally awe-inspiring sight of a scramble of four Victors. The seemingly continuous roar of take-off power from 16 engines was absolutely unforgettable. I was always very secretly pleased that those crews never had to do it for real. Even we knew they weren't coming back!