Mr Grubby - my first experience of heavy drops was out of Abingdon, detached from Dishforth. We were cleared to drop by the Range Controller and duly made the run. Quite quickly after release we got the following R/T call ... " Please inform the Captain that the load took three seconds to leave the aircraft and five seconds to hit the ground". With no previous experience of the drop sequence, the significance didn't register and the message was duly passed. The response was "WTF
" and a VERY rapid (in Bev terms) whip around the circuit and a low level recce to view a distinctly flat Land Rover on its rather secondhand pallet.
Dropping things from the Bev was always interesting. On the initial trials of para drops from the boom in the combined para/heavy drop role, the dummies were released through the floor hatch but disappeared from view. Much puzzlement, until they were discovered lying in the freight bay, having been swept there by the reversed airflow caused by the doors being removed. Yet another retrofit, this time the "elephant's ears", thereafter used for mixed drop sorties.
Re. the senior 'septic' comment = take anything for SHORT DISTANCES - correct - that's what they were designed for and what they did supremely well. Problem was, as ever, Auntie Betty's Flying Club rarely used it in its intended role - plus ca change