Ken
Thank you very much for your congrats' - mind you, yesterday when I was riding my bike and racing myself on the Garmin thingie that my son bought me for my 70th, I felt every day of my age!
Back in '67, knowing b*gger all about what pilots could or could not do, I didn't give any thought to the 'danger' I may have been in. At Nav' School some advice was given re pilots i.e. avoid anyone wearing a coloured scarf with his flying suit, and on your first squadron look for an old Master Pilot with a large family to support.
As the end of my second tour approached and now the father of 3 children, my concern for my own well-being was much greater! The eldest of those 3 was warned emphatically not to frighten me f**tless when he gave me a ride in a Jaguar some 20 years later in 1993!