Master Navigator Tony Melton

Master Navigator (Warrant Officer) Tony Melton, who has died aged 91, was forced to eject from his stricken fighter over East Pakistan, surviving in the jungle for three days before being rescued; he later turned rescuer with the RAF’s search and rescue helicopter force.

Melton and his pilot (Flight Lieutenant Owens) were leading five Javelin night fighters on a ferry flight from their base in East Anglia to Singapore in August 1961. They had taken off from Calcutta and were heading for Rangoon when one of the two engines of their aircraft exploded at 32,000ft.

The long-legged Melton damaged both knees as he ejected from the aircraft and he lost his survival pack during the descent. He landed in tall trees, where his parachute became snagged. After cutting himself free he was unable to recover it so was left with just his Mae West life jacket and a crude knife as survival aids. His pilot had been killed leaving the aircraft.

Over the next two days he walked along small river tributaries hoping they would lead to a larger river. Water was plentiful but he had no food. On the third day an RAF Shackleton aircraft spotted him and dropped supplies. “The cigarettes took a caning,” Melton recalled. He was promptly picked up by a Grumman Goose amphibious aircraft, which skilfully landed on the narrow river. Born October 12 1924, died November 20 2015