John,
Another 617 v IX story you might like is actually a Strike Command v Air Support Command one as well:
On April 22nd 1971 my (617) crew were on our way back to Scampton having carried out a series of air displays in Australia to mark the RAAF's 50th anniversary. That day was a 4-hour leg from Tengah to Gan, where we arrived above MAUM for landing, and so had to burn off some fuel. Coincidentally, a IX Sqn Vulcan arrived from Masirah at about the same time, and also had to burn off fuel. Both captains quickly came up with a competition which involved accurate instrument flying and visual bombing and timing skills. Each ac took it in turns to do a short-pattern PAR, whilst the other attempted to overfly the runway at 90 degrees and 250ft to capture the rolling Vulcan with the nose-mounted F95 camera. Whichever crew had more photos of the other's ac would be bought the beers by the losers in the bar that evening.
This is actually more difficult than it sounds, and half way through our second approach a VC10 arrived on the scene and requested landing clearance. The Gan Approach controller advised him he would have to hold, as there was a bombing exercise in progress. At this juncture the VC10's pilot said:
"Gan, this is an Air Support Command Scheduled Transport!" whereupon the controller replied:
"Sorry, didn't realise you were an Air Support Command Scheduled Transport - Hold."
The VC10 crew were very miffed, but later in the bar they discovered that both Vulcans had real (not acting) Sqn Ldr captains, so there was little they could do about it. Moreover, we had 2 of their Cpl air stewards removed from a 6-man air conditioned room where they were the sole occupants so that 5 officers got a proper night's sleep.
Sadly, I don't think either Vulcan managed to capture a vertical photo of the other on the runway, but it was fun, and had valuable training value.