I can't be certain of the facts, but one story I did hear went something like this:-
Following the American Airlines DC10 crash at Chicago, when an engine and pylon detached during take-off, other DC10 operators had to check their fleet for engine/pylon mount integrity. Freddie was rumoured to have just rolled up his shirt sleeves, and helped his engineers to complete the task in the hangar. Was he an Airframe man from way back?