Its probably possible that a couple of guys on here are old mates of mine so will know that what I say is the truth. I was part of 2 of the accidents that (SWMNBN) was involved in.
The head trap incident took place in HMF hangar in Laarbruch in 98. SWMNBN was in the hangar after being road moved back from a detachment to Norway, where it had flown into telegraph wires , low level in a fjord. It had been in repair state for many months.
I was working in an opposite jet, refitting titanium heatshields in the engine bay (wing off-engine out).
SWMNBN was undergoing final undercarriage functional tests. There were 3 engineers working, a young lad in the cockpit retracting the UC, a corporal on headset giving verbal commands, and a sergeant acting as independent checker.
The UC had been cycled several times and everything was working ok, but on this particular attempt, as stated by Teamchief earlier, the legs came down, but the nose leg doors remained open. This normally points to a microswitch that sends the signal to shut the doors, once the leg is down, and centred, thus protecting the UC bay from damage when landing in the field etc. Lots of fragile hydraulic components.
For some unknown reason, the Cpl ended up in the nose UC bay, and must have knocked the microswitch , which sent the signal to the hydraulics to shut the doors.
I heard the bang as the SNCO pulled the door release handle, which luckily, was right next to him. This blew the doors open and the Cpl fell out, suffering massive head trauma.
I jumped out of my aircraft, and for the next hour or so, held the top of his head on until the German emergency services got him stable to move him to hospital.
Luckily he (PF) survived, and as Laarbruch shut down, he remained in hospital in Germany for many months. He returned to Cottesmore after recovering.
SWMNBN was eventually flown back to Cottesmore after being certified fit to fly, and I believe took a birdstrike on its return journey.
A few years later, on detachment to Cold Lake Canada, I was part of the airframe team, responsible for the wing removal, jacking and levelling of the aircraft for an engine change. The engine had been changed overnight and as the day shift, we were putting the wing back on.
We had a Canadian marine crane driver who was unfamiliar with the procedure. He was fully briefed and hand-signals and procedures were confirmed. We had fitted 5 out of the 6 bolts that held the wing to the fuselage, but the last bolt was being a pain in the arse, and wouldn't line up.
We gave the crane driver a signal to slew the crane ever so slightly and for some unknown reason, decided to jib the crane on a monumental scale.
The crane pulled the aircraft heavily to the side and it fell off its jacks, landing on the hangar floor and damaging the nose, nose UC doors and various other lower panels.
A sooty (engine techie) was underneath at the time, doing the final valve connections to the engine, when he heard the crack of the jack legs, and luckily rolled out of the way before the aircraft hit the floor.
We once again repaired the aircraft, with a team of specialist structures lads, and the aircraft flew home. I believe it suffered a birdstrike on its home journey.
The final nail in coffin was the Mortar attack that damaged it beyond economical repair.
I had left the squadron by then so cannot comment on events.
All I can say, is that I am the person who gave her the nickname of "Christine". I was brought up in a family of rock n roll fans who loved that Stephen King film. I was made to watch it loads of times and i've read the book several times also, so it seemed fitting to call this aircraft that name.
I have no proof but I'm sticking to my story and if someone else comes forward as to who gave her that name, I'm willing to listen.