I can remember being airborne from Oakington in a Varsity one day and we were advised to look for a barrage balloon which had broken loose from Cardington. After a bit of searching, my instructor asked what was so important about it? ATC then advised us that the met man was still in it! (Apparently he used to go up in it to 1,000 feet a couple of times a day to take readings). I believe he managed to reunite himself with England before he ran out of countryside in East Anglia somewhere.