212man, not a unique occurrence. The Hastings fleet went one by one for fire practice (£60 delivered fully serviceable) when the Hercs started arriving. A crew took one to an RAF station in Germany, and had to taxy to a remote part of the airfield as was usual on such deliveries. Much talk of buying duty frees before being swept up by another squadron aircraft, how much time they had to do that, etc etc. In the meantime the woods that lined their route were creeping ever closer to the taxyway. Of course the inevitable happened and a wing tip struck a tree. Not to worry, the aircraft was going to be struck off anyway, so nil further in the F700 and back to base in time for tea (if not medals). Similar signal to yours received at the squadron, and a penitent skipper had to explain all to the Boss. A quick phone call to Group and aircraft retrieval was cancelled. Sighs of relief all round!