The first F1-11 to plonk itself into Valley in 1971. one Friday afternoon, when, strangely, it went "tech "..these things happen as we know. At this point, the full weight of top level security was deployed as armed guards. This elite force came from within Eng Wing, as ever, and notably comprised of relatively new arrivals....
In a rare moment of practicality, the famous all purpose pick axe handle was replaced with an SLR and....live ammunition, plus the infamous yellow card. There was a slight problem here....the magazine in the SLR was empty....the one with the live ammunition in was sealed in plastic wrap that would have taken about an hour to get into. We were given a very grave briefing as to intruders , etc which we thought was, perhaps, a little surprising as it was located on the well known pan that was adjacent to the sand dunes, where the "fence " at that time was sort of hanging onto a few posts and tourists happily had picnics watching the flying.
An exciting night of defending our allies aircraft then followed, based in an ice box, and with nothing useful, like refreshments for example, being provided hence we had to make " alternative arrangements " involving the chip shop in Bodedern and liquid refreshment c/o Boddingtons.
Next day, whilst seemingly quick enough to assemble this fearless force, nobody had thought about changing over after "some considerable time ". ....which turned out to be around lunch time , Sat.
Enter the cousins tech Sgt sent to rectify the "defect ".......having offered his views as to the crew, the USAF, the state of the UK roads and just about anything else that came to mind, he fixed the defect in a remarkably short time shall we say. Then came the interesting moment. We noticed the name going into the log was not the one displayed on his uniform and, being curious, asked why. He kindly informed us the "asshole had done it to me, so I'm doing it to him "....we just sort of nodded here and quietly wandered off.