I mentioned before that Steve Belcher, the copilot and I joined the RAF on the same day in November 1976 (although he may well have been attested prior to that due to his previous University Air Squadron membership). We lived in adjacent rooms during officer training at Henlow and although we came from very different backgrounds (his father was in the higher management of a major oil company) we became good friends. In a quiet moment, even prior to us beginning flying training, he told me that he often had premonitions that he would end up “in a smoking black hole”. I told him that he should opt out of flying training if that was how he felt. Obviously, he didn’t. I was relieved at the time that he was streamed from BFTS onto the Nimrod because it was considered to be a very safe aircraft. Little did we know; it was strange and tragic how this turned out. I often wonder how different things would have been for him had he taken my advice.
RIP Steve, you’re not forgotten.