One morning in May 1966, Lieutenant Allan Tarver from 890 Naval Air Squadron was flying his Sea Vixen from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. They were 100 miles off the coast of Mozambique, taking part in the Beira Patrol to enforce an oil embargo on Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) which, under Ian Smith, had issued a unilateral declaration of independence from Britain.
Tarver, then aged 27, had carried out an operational patrol and was heading to the carrier when he heard a loud “clunk”. One of his two engines had failed. Worse, the aircraft was losing fuel through the damaged engine. He contacted the Ark Royal and a Scimitar fuel-tanker aircraft was dispatched.
He tried refuelling at 12,000ft while flying on one engine. Yet before