I was a Nav Radar on 214 in 1975 at the time of the Victor incident referred to by Dengue Dude. After 4 years squinting down the rear-view periscope and making sarcastic comments about the antics of some new guy on his first attempt at prodding, I suppose I regarded AAR as a pretty mundane operation, particularly from the tanker's point of view.
The loss of XH 618 when a Buccaneer hit its tail after a missed approach changed my attitude abruptly. Only the captain, Keith "Neddy" Handscombe survived, and that by great good luck, and thereafter we all realised that particularly for the guys down the back, the odds against escape from a Victor in those circumstances were pretty poor (nil in the case of the VC10, of course).
Glad to hear the recent incident had a much happier outcome.