I have more!
Around the same era, Mrs Rezillo and I were kicking our heels on Bawdsey quay, watching the river traffic go past. Close by was RAF Bawdsey, which was still active at the time and defended by a number of Bloodhound missiles.
It was a glorious summer's day. Behind us were a few houses with front gardens laid to lawn. On one of these was a group of elderly people seated at a picnic table laid out with an very elaborate tea - tiered cake stand (with cakes), teapots, china, the works. There was no-one else about and we were rather hoping we might get offered a cake but we weren't.
This summer idyll all changed in dramatic fashion when two jets screamed up the Deben estuary from the landward side at treetop height along the river - like the Lightnings, so low that there was almost no advance warning. I say 'almost' because I spotted them coming up the estuary a second or two before they arrived. A split second of colossal bass noise and high pitched scream as the planes passed us so close and low that it seemed as if we could reach out and touch them then they disappeared over the North sea. From Bawdsey, sirens could be heard wailing, too late for what was presumably a mock low level attack, and that was it.
We almost fell in the river in shock but behind us was an ominous clinking sound. The tea party members were all flat on their backs on the lawn with their legs in the air. Their chairs and table had collapsed, scattering cake and broken crockery far and wide. They weren't hurt, fortunately, but I don't think our chances of hoovering up any remaining cake were enhanced by us having a prolonged laughing fit.
Not sure what the planes were - not British or US and they may have had red crosses in their insignia.
