Ah yes, phone jokers! At Heaven-in-Devon on 63 Sqn, the late Pete Stone was a master of such antics. His best was when he rang the Stn Cdr, a chap not known for a sense of humour, then rang off after a few rings before the phone could be answered. Then on another nearby phone he did the same thing to the Stn Cdr's wife. Both were now expecting the phone to ring again, so Stoney duly obliged, turning the handset round on one, so that it faced the earpiece of the other, then he listened in to the "What is it?" "I don't know - you rang me" "No I didn't" argument which got progressively more acrimonious! Finally he announced "Well, it must have been someone else then!" and quickly cleared the phones down, leaving the Stn Cdr and his wife to sort themselves out later.
Before dial-a-mate, those old manual exchanges of which TT spoke were in obscure locations such as 'Central' or 'Rothwell Haigh' and were operated by ancient old biddies who would route the call. But would suddenly screech "Are you working??" if you paused for thought during the call! One day on 35 Sqn, one of our number was trying to call somewhere on this archaic system when there was a 'click' and the line went quiet. "Bolleaux!", he muttered, "The f*****g old b***h has cut me off".... Whereupon there was an outraged howl of anger as one of the old dears remonstrated with "YOUNG MAN, THERE IS NO CALL TO USE LANGUAGE LIKE THAT!!"