Highly unlikely that aircrew would smoke on account of the need for oxygen masks at the altitude's WWII aircraft operated at.

It's probable that some people went into action with lit cigars although the only definite example I know of is Lord George Paget who took part in the Charge of The Light Brigade smoking a cheroot.

There is no shortage of eccentrics to chose from who did things even more bizarre

• Orde Wingate wore an alarm clock strapped to his wrist and an onion on a string around his neck in case he got peckish. He also had a penchant for nudity, often receiving visitors completely starkers.

• John "Mad Jack" Churchill went into action with bagpipes, a broadsword, and is the only person in WWII to have a confirmed kill with a bow and arrow.

• Alfed Wintle who after the French surrender in 1940 demanded, by way of threatening an Air Commodore with a firearm, an aircraft so he could personally fly to France and persuade the French air force to defect to Britain. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London for that and at his trial proceeded to read out a list of people he thought should also be shot (including the then secretary of state for war) as being unpatriotic. He was acquitted. Later captured by the Vichy French, he once went on a 13 day hunger strike because he felt the appearance of his guards so slovenly as to be below the standard required to guard an English Officer.

• Brigadier Gatehouse, who, wearing a Tartan rug around his waist, exercised command from an armchair strapped to his M3 light tank.

• Major Tatham-Warter who commanded airborne troops at Arnhem and carried an umbrella into battle. At one point he used his umbrella to disable a German armoured vehicle by thrusting the umbrella through the driver's vision slot. He is also reported to have rescued a Padre who was pinned down, saying "Don't worry about the bullets, I have an umbrella'