Robert Furze was educated at the NCP with a naval career in mind but became enthralled with the idea of flying and entered RAF Cranwell in 1947. A lengthy obituary in The Times described some of his exploits as a bomber pilot on the front line of the Cold War.

Passing out from Cranwell in 1949, Furze joined 617 Squadron of Dambusters fame. The squadron won the 1950 Bomber Command bombing competition flying Lincoln bombers. Furze commanded an aircrew and collected the cup from Buckingham Palace. The following year he was posted to 101 Squadron, then operating the Canberra jet bomber which flew at twice the speed of a Lincoln at heights around 50,000 ft. In October, 1953, Furze took part in the “last great air race” over a 12,000 mile course from London to New Zealand, coming third and having covered the route in just over 24 hours at an average speed of  more than 500mph.

Soon after, in the words of The Times account, Furze “was to find himself participating in one of the most remarkable, but least publicised, aerial intelligence-gathering operations of the early years of the Cold War in which British aircrews flew American reconnaissance bombers (with RAF markings) in deep penetration sorties, at high altitude, into Soviet air space over western Russia.” The operation was triggered by the American desire to obtain high-quality photographs of Soviet air bases, factories and missile sites. The snag was that the USAF had been forbidden by President Truman in 1951 to overfly the Soviet Union. Its pugnacious commander Gen. Curtis LeMay decided to ask the British to act for it using a US aircraft (a version of the B45 Tornado) with RAF markings.

The first of the sorties (not involving Furze) was undertaken in 1952 and safely evaded Soviet air defences to the fury of Russian commanders. A second series of sorties, on this occasion including Furze, was ordered in April, 1954. Soviet air defences were better prepared this time although MiG15 fighters still could not reach the 36,000ft at which the RAF crews flew. The Times obituary continues: “As they neared Kiev the RB45Cs aircraft almost ran into a barrage of well-predicted anti-aircraft shell burst exploding ahead of them. Diving under the flak, the RAF crews turned and headed for the safety of West German air space, a thousand miles away, at full throttle. They kept their eyes peeled for Soviet fighters which, as they learned subsequently, had been ordered to ram them on sight rather than risking their escaping in a cannon engagement.” In the event all the RAF crews reached West German airfields safely. Furze was awarded the Air Force Cross.

Subsequent flying appointments included trials connected with the introduction of V-bombers and command of a low-level nuclear strike unit based at RAF Wildenrath in West Germany.