The cartoon of the lady and the wing spar triggered memories of a Valetta trip, just before dawn, from Buraimi Oasis to Sharjah in the mid 50s. In that instance, the person attempting to cross the spar was a Saudi Arabian 'prisoner of war' who, together with some dozen others had been 'picked up' by the Trucial Oman Scouts in a dawn 'scuffle'. I was standing in the flight deck access doorway. revolver drawn,(pointless exercise!!) flanked by two TOS troopers with pike bayonets (VERY effective!). The 'PoW's attempt was abruptly halted with the presentation, at his throat, of a pair of pikes. The troopers then turned to me for permission to proceed!! ... NOT granted, much too early in the day! We had, apparently, initiated the incident the previous day by delivering the 'GO' message to the local troops with a routine cash convoy delivery. In the scheme of things it didn't seem terribly unusual but I have since (60+years) read it reported in more than one political diary as being a bit of an international 'incident'with the major players being UK, Saudi and the US in Aramco form. Funny old world!