Slight bit of thread drift........1969, Coningsby. One of our Phantom's loses a canopy in flight and diverts to Lossie (RNAS!). I'm a JT rigger and am one of the team sent to repair/recover the aircraft. Won't go into the strange practices evident during our weeks stay there.
Having fixed the aircraft, a flight crew arrive (Friday afternoon) in a Devon. We groundcrew are told that the Devon does not have enough room for all the groundcrew - one will have to find another way home. I suggested various fair selection methods but the Scalies ganged-up together and voted that the obvious solution was for the only Singlie (me) to be the one to enjoy another night of Navy hospitality followed by an exceedingly long, boring train ride. Didn't fancy this, entreaties to the Devon Capt only elicited the suggestion that I ring ATC and see if there was anything going south from the Bomber dispersal on t'other side of the airfield. Nothing venture, nothing gained so made the call to be told that a Varsity was taxying around and would be passing the hangar any minute. Fortune favours the brave, so quick dash onto the taxiway, kitbag in hand. Sure enough, here come a Varsity so stepping into the taxi way I made a "this marshaller" signal, then a stop signal followed by a "please can I have a lift" signal. The Varsity came to a stop and after a pause the DV window opened and a thumbs-up signal appeared.
Another pause, then the fuseleage door opened and I was beckoned on-board. A lovely, smooth trundle to Scampton ensued. One very grateful erk! (Even more anazing, I managed to persuade MT to give me a ride back to base). Ah, happy days.