Lowerlobe, you should consider quitting while you're still able to salvage some dignity. You obviously have very little idea of what you're talking about here. An opinion on Howard's motivation for getting off the aircraft is one thing, but watching you digging your own hole about so many things which are so far out of your realm is becoming embarrassing.
Why is it so difficult to picture the ramp opening and some cameramen piling out in time to catch the PM (who is reported to have been in the cockpit, on a headset) as he de-planes moments later?
By the way, the PM would never have been at that airfield in the first place if the location hadn't been deemed relatively safe at the time.
Whilst not saying there was no threat at all and whilst acknowledging that timely action was a factor, the threat assessment was obviously such that the actions on returning to the field could, believe it or not, be taken with a moment or two to think about what they were doing instead of just star-bursting off the aircraft in the sort of screaming, hysterical frenzy that some people here seem to think is the only possible natural response.
Brian A: Respect to you for your privations of the past. In more recent times, punishments have been administered to those of military beginnings for referring to an aircraft as a plane. Said punishments were often doled out with the reminder that "only carpenters use planes" or "a plain (pronounced "plane") is a type of hamburger".
I'll not belabour the point but might add, if I may, that you may want to be careful should you ever wish, in these modern times, to refer to your tail-gunner.