Ah Pontius,
Back in 197? I was co-pilot on a C130 sortie from Masirah. We had been tasked to search the Indian Ocean (!) for a missing supertanker. The radar search produced the odd result whereupon it "was decided" to carry out a visual search. The plan was to fly at around 1000' with the para doors open. Naturally the loadie wore a despatcher's harness [thank heavens]. The air temp was about 37°C to 40°C that balmy evening and with several hours of fuel we could search for ages. On the five man crew only the loadie was "down the back". After a few hours a loud rushing noise was heard on the intercom. "Microphone Loadie!" was murmered by skip. Soon the rest of the flight deck four started to echo the remark. After many grunts, metallic clangs and good old Wiltshire expletives a breathless loadie was heard on the intercom "Sorry boss, I fell asleep, fell out, and woke up being thrashed against the back of the aircraft." Some truckies will remember who you were! This was after about eight hours. We packed up and returned to the RAF's jewel, Masirah. The Tanker was never found....because it was never missing!
I expect that our homeward route was being eagerly tracked by the friendly local sharks expecting a food parcel by air mail.
Happy new year pruners everywhere.