He was also a fighter pilot in the RAF during the fifties on Vampires and Meteors, I think.
As regards his Tony Blair statement:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">I know Tony Blair thinks our history is something of which we should be ashamed, and that as a CND member he wanted to ground the Vulcan. But if you are proud of the men willing to risk their lives to save ours, then I hope you will be willing to celebrate the history of this worthy aircraft.</font>
May explain the lack of Government funding. Still, lets shell out a few more quid on that big thing down by the river though, hey!
Regards, VFE.