"Centaurus" I think we all stand before you with amazement & appreciate the little insight to a world long left behind us :-)
I'd say there would be thousands of stories like yours that are locked away in many an airman's mind from days gone by, sadly most will go with them to their graves.
I wonder at times when reading such stories has the world learnt from it's past battles, I suspect not despite the blood that flowed freely from those men & women whom tried to stop future history books from having the same terrible stories.
'Lest we forget' is very apt & should be so all year round not just on Anzac day etc.
Wmk2