Is that f...... Brize?
One of my fondest memories of my time at Brize Radar in the early 90s, was when BAe were flying the stored (former BA) airframes out of Abingdon to Filton.
As I understood it from the guys on 10/101 Sqns, they only had one set of 4 Conways for all the frames and swapped them over to the next airframe once the ferry flight had been completed. The gear and flaps were apparently down and welded and a basic avionics kit installed - indeed the radio was set on a single frequency for the whole ferry flight. They were granted permission to fly by the CAA on a 'one flight only' basis to Filton and in VFR conditions only. As I recall, the aircraft were flown/crewed by BAe 'test pilots/engineers'. Whoever they were, they were brave guys, given that the beasts had been stored outside in their 'cocoons' for so long.
Anyway, one of these flights got airborne out of Abingdon and checked-in with us at Brize Radar. Trouble was, they then got a stuck transmit switch for much of the transit across to Bristol! Much hilarity was had as the crew discussed where they thought they were as they made the transit across to Bristol. They played 'what's the airfield' as they looked across to Brize, Fairford and Kemble sliding past on the starboard side. They also played 'what's the town/village'.
However, it was the rather 'fruity' language that they used during their conversations that turned the air over Oxfordshire/Gloucestershire/Wiltshire an even brighter shade of blue than it already was!!
Is that f......g Brize?
Na mate it's f......g Fairford!
Na it's f.....g not!
Anyway, you get the drift. The 5-10 minutes that this went on for were amongst the funniest I've had when on duty as an air trafficker! By the end of it, everyone at Brize Radar was listening in to the alternative geography lesson! The guys only realised that they had a problem when they saw Bristol looming up and were surprised that we had not mentioned to them to listen out for Filton. Having 'unstuck' and regained two-way, we thanked them very much for the in-flight entertainment that they had provided. A very red-faced crew then sheepishly checked in with Filton.
As thanks for the entertainment, we got the CIS Eng guys to make a recording of the r/t from our tapes and sent it to the guys, who I think were Warton-based. I'm not so sure they appreciated our gift!!