Thanks Beagle.. the 80s are just one long mad haze man. I may have been right about the jolly mind, but I know nothing about the incident or its causes etc.
I might be wrong here too, but it was a Vampire or Sea Vixen that AM Sir Kenneth Hayr died in a few years back too? I have no idea what sort of rep he had with those he directly worked with, but I had a lot of time for him. He was CBFC in the 80s and visiting the troops out on the ground, I always remember him as being an interested, dapper and very courteous man, despite his wife being very poorly as I recall. F/F 10 years or so, and I stumbled across FO Sir Kenneth Hayr at a UAS. I watched him debrief a student.. still courteous, calm and (this might sound daft) he had an air of humility about him. I imagine that he still had so much more to offer. A sad day.