At Binbrook in Lincolnshire, U.S. pilot Captain Bill Schaffner was a popular addition to the ranks of 5 Squadron. He arrived there in 1970 to learn to fly one-man Lightning fighter planes as part of an exchange programme between the U.S. Air Force and the RAF. With him were wife Linda and small children David, Glennon and baby Michael.Life on a Cold War airbase in those days revolved around the ever-present threat from the Soviet Union. All personnel were required to be fully prepared for such an eventuality, and in September that year, a major exercise began to test a squadron's reaction to a Soviet attack on the UK.
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