When the colonel eventually arrived, he turned out to be a big man with an exuberant nature that seemed to go well with a moustache that might have made the legendary ‘Biggles’ proud. To accompany the colonel, smartly-uniformed members of the air attaché’s staff were joined by a group of senior Royal Air Force officers. In contrast, Archie and his men wore their normal day-to-day flying suits. When Archie made suitable introductions, he was relieved to see that the colonel was an affable fellow who chatted freely with everyone present. Maybe it was all the more of a surprise, therefore, when the colonel suddenly stopped speaking to stare, mouth agape, at a badge he’d just spotted on Archie’s flying suit. The badge, innocuous enough so Archie thought, revealed the achievement of 1,000 flying hours in a Phantom.

“Have you ever been to the Malvinas?” asked the colonel. An embarrassed hush descended on the room.

“Yes, sir. On several occasions,” said Archie, “though we called the islands something else.” He glanced nervously around the room. Some of the senior Royal Air Force officers scowled their disapproval.

“On several occasions?”

“Yes. I was detached there to fly Phantoms.”

“Interesting,” said the colonel. After a pause he went on: “I’ve flown there myself, actually.”

“You have?”

“Indeed. That is…in a manner of speaking.”

“Sir?”

“It must have been about three years ago. I was on board a C-130 which had permission to overfly the Malvinas — the first FAA aircraft to do so since the war. We had to be escorted by a couple of Phantoms, one of which pretended to need an in-flight refuel from our C-130.” The colonel laughed and went on: “It was all a bit of fun, of course. But it broke the ice, so to speak, and the C-130 captain was willing to play along up to a point.”

At once, Archie beckoned one of his students, whispered a message which sent the student scurrying off to return after a moment or two with Archie’s flying logbook. Thumbing hastily through it, Archie found a particular page with a photograph loosely inserted. He extracted the photograph and showed it to the colonel whose face, as he studied the picture, at first looked shocked, then bemused, amused and amazed. “This is you…?” said the colonel. “Yes, sir. I was on duty that day — I was the Phantom pilot who pretended to need an in-flight refuel.”

“My God…” The colonel stared at Archie then, in a spontaneous act, clapped him on the shoulder, shook his hand vigorously and grabbed him in a bear hug. Now, in an escalating spirit of munificence, the colonel fumbled in his pocket to pull out a small leather pouch which contained a medal from the Argentine air academy. Without further ado, the colonel solemnly pinned the medal to Archie’s flying suit before, his moustache bristling with pride, he stepped back and saluted our gallant protagonist.

At this, the buzz of conversation in the room started up again while poor Archie, as he struggled to recover from momentary vertigo induced by such extravagance, was relieved to see that the group of senior Royal Air Force officers now looked rather less mournful. Maybe Archie felt a little light-headed, caught off-balance by the bizarre, unplanned experience. Was it, though, altogether unplanned? On reflection, Archie reckoned that the colonel seemed, somehow, pre-prepared. If not, why carry such a medal anyway? Surely not on the off-chance of meeting some random individual who instantly needed one?

At length, when the colonel and his party made moves to leave, he came up to Archie to shake his hand warmly. “Goodbye, my friend. Please pay a visit to the Argentine air academy one day, huh?”

“Thanks, sir. That would be…” Archie suddenly noticed the way the colonel was looking at him. When the colonel nodded and turned around to leave, Archie was left with the distinct impression that he knew all along who Archie was. He could never be sure, of course, and as he watched the Argentine officer and his party leave, Archie realised that the entire, strange episode would have to remain as one of life’s little surprises.

This article by Dario Leone originally appeared on The Aviation Geek Club in 2018.

Image: Wikimedia.