PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Beverley or Hasting tales please
View Single Post
Old 22nd Aug 2020, 08:07
  #26 (permalink)  
Chugalug2
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Sussex
Age: 82
Posts: 4,758
Received 219 Likes on 68 Posts
OD's overweight Beverley story reminds me of a tale told by a Hastings 48 Sqn captain. It didn't concern Hastings though but helicopters. He had been detached to the Borneo forward area during Confrontation as an Air Liaison Officer and part of his duties included raising manifests for troop and cargo loads. The helicopter pilots were barely able to clear the surrounding trees of their jungle clearing. All the troop weight figures used were standard, and as the troops concerned were Gurkhas he reasonably assumed that should have left room to spare. Nonetheless it was insisted that actual weights be used, so a set of Butchers Scales were hung on a tree branch and Gurkhas hung one by one by their webbing, and sure enough all were well under average weight. Then their kit was hung in their place. The branch groaned, the scales went to full tilt. The packs were opened to discover in the place of socks spare pairs of, etc ; extra grenades, ammo, knives, etc, etc. Normal operation was resumed thereafter.
Chugalug2 is offline