As I recall I was in Butterworth at the time, Ascend Charlie, and I only heard about it through the ‘rumour ripple’ – probably got reversed and exaggerated at the first retelling!
The only time I had the honour of meeting and talking with Reg was, ironically, in his post-RAAF capacity as AIP manager. Which reminds me – the next time we meet I must remonstrate with him about the cockpit-unfriendly brick that the AIP’s become, although I’d guess that the format wasn’t his bright idea and he would have expressed his views on the subject frankly and fearlessly at the time.