From Winged Warriors -The Cold War from the Cockpit:
'My first sortie was a high-level recce of the Iranian Air Force base at Bandarabbas on the northern side of the Arabian Gulf. The sortie lasted four hours, and we were intercepted by Iranian F4 Phantoms. The F4s had very ‘dirty’ engines and we could see their smoke from many miles away, so we could then turn to make their task of intercepting us so much more difficult. The following day we flew a similar sortie, this time against the Iranian base at Mashad in north-eastern Iran. It was another four hour sortie and we eventually landed at Tehran International Airport. We had about an hour on the ground to refuel before taking off again and after checking the weather forecast for our return I went outside the Met Office for a quick cigarette. So there I was, a rather unkempt RAF flying officer in a sweaty flying suit, no hat, having a quiet smoke when guess who came round the corner? An RAF Air Marshal in his very best uniform and he was looking for me! I almost wet myself on the spot! But all he wanted to do was to shake my hand and have a chat. He was Air Marshal Sir Alfred Ball, the UK Permanent Military Representative to CENTO, and he had flown in for a high powered CENTO meeting. As he and the many other senior delegates were walking along the red carpet to meet their hosts, he spotted our aircraft, exclaimed ‘that’s a XIII Squadron Canberra’ and promptly hurried off to find the crew. He was a delightful man and didn’t seem to mind my casual turn-out in the slightest.'
This sortie took place in 1976. The book also contains other tales about the author in Iran.