Whilst in training during the late 70's I was fortunate to take part in an exchange visit with Frech Air Force trainees technicians at their base near La Rochelle.
The trip out was taken courtesy of Albert Airways and the return was to be taken in a Transall. At the last monemt we were informed that the aircraft had been otherwise tasked and we were to fly home again in a Nord Noratlas.....
In all honesty none of us had ever heard of a Noratlas before let alone seen one, but our French hosts delighted in regaling us with tales of its little mishaps. Such as the time a fire extinguisher went off at the front of the cargo deck and all the paras on board rushed to the rear thinking the worst. The worst did in fact happen when the aircraft stalled due to the sudden weight shift, and crashed with loss of life of all aboard. Or so we were told
The next day the piston engined Noratlas pitched up, complete with oil leaks and an elastic bungee keeping a sorry looking collection of cables and pipes clealr of the retracting main leg in one u/c bay. The flight crew were fluent in, er, French, and our interpeter had to man the radios once we got indise UK airspace.
Still, we got back OK and it was a hell of a lot more intersting a flight than a boring Transall.