I have had a super summer in 2009 display-flying the world's only airworthy Avro Vulcan bomber - an aircraft I first got my hands on in 1971 as a co-pilot at RAF Waddington with 44 Sqn.

Tony Blackman, who has died aged 96, was an RAF fighter pilot who later joined Avro, where he tested over 100 of the delta-wing Vulcan bombers and rose to be chief test pilot. He was invited to ...