Kintyred
The officer of whom you speak retired recently with the rank of General (one * I think) in the RNlAF; his background was Jaguars, and that exchange you mentioned on F16. I took over from him on the Recce desk at 2 ATAF in 1992 (having formerly been a neighbour at Chivenor in 81/82) from where he left to become a Cloggie and join their air force; had to take up nationality to do so - and happily remains so.
Mister B