Originally Posted by
surely not
Spot on Midland 331, it was down to how long the power cable was as to whether the ground crew put the GPU to the front and had a shorter heave on the cable to gather it in and make sure you're clear of the props before leaving the safety of under the fuselage, or put it behind the wing, side on so that the propwash didn't blow the GPU over, and the ground crew were bathed in the hot exhaust fumes as the packed the heavy cable onto the GPU and drove clear.
The only aircraft I saw that had a worse position for the GPU lead was the Swearingen Metroliner which had the socket on the starboard engine nacelle midway between the props and the wing leading edge!! None of the engineers enjoyed this.
Apologies for the slight digression here.
With regard to the ground power socket, from my one and only experience with a Devon that arrived unexpectedly at Valley one weekend, we had to plug the infamous trolley acc into a socket on the right hand side, under the cockpit....... and decidedly adjacent to the prop.
J/T Chips at the time was somewhat new and was thus "volunteered " for this task on departure despite offering his " thoughtful sentiments" as to why he wasn't overly enthused at the prospect.
The other memorable aspect was that the elderly driver underwent a personality and accent change overnight !.....Sat, arrived with a broad Yorkshire accent and all smiles and happy conversation, Sunday, Home Counties accent and demanding pompous demeanour.
Despite growing up near MAN and seeing / hearing the Viscount as a fact of life, plus the aftermath of the Shadow Moss Lane tragedy, ironically I never got to fly in or maintain them.