Originally Posted by
Diff Tail Shim
Some one else that was at Lossie in mid 1973 confirmed that the first armourers course on Jags used XX111 at Lossie to do the first seat training removals and refits. The MP had glaring errors having taken a Mk4 seat MP and not changing stuff required for a mark 9. Aircraft was delivered to Lossie on the 30th of May.
Alas, some time later, a few things were "forgotten " shall we say.
A seat was changed during the week, but, the aircraft sat on the ground in the comfort of a HAS until, one sunny
Friday early evening, came the requirement for a ground run for me to do a leak check on the air cond.
My mate starts up and..woosh ! great sheets of flame, very impressive in a HAS, followed by a "you couldn't make it up" saga.
It appeared, that, to help the removal / refit, they had moved those two levers fully fwd and, the fuel system worked perfectly !.and had been doing for a few days....the dry cycle on No 2 produced a lovely cloud of misty fuel....enter our Flt Sgt, ex V's and a top man, unfazed by anything / body, who calmly rolls a cigarette ....this is outside I should stress...just in time for the wail of sirens, some 30 mins after the initial fire alarm was triggered. Enter the Plod.
Our hero emerges, produces notebook and asks what happened..."advised " not much, just a hiccup...Plod asks if we are talking criminal damage here with these two airmen....not a rank tab in sight on either of us btw....response from FS was "why don't you piss off son "...Plod, deeply offended, asks mate to repeat what he's just been told...food and drink to a Yorkshireman who didn't like plods who says " if you don't f$%k off, I'll deck yer ! "...plod says I heard that to me and am a witness !....nope says I because I'll kick the sh$%t out of you on the way down.
Plod makes lots of mutterings and disappears....nothing further heard.
We then did the run, and retired to the Mally and Chicken Inn.