From the little bit I saw of the Smiths FD system, when I had a little play with it on the Vanguard sim at BEA: YOU WERE LUCKY! Good grief, if Smiths had been set the task of designing the milking machine, they'd have nailed the udders to the floor and jacked the cow up and down. Still, it seemed to make sense to those perverse people who revel in making things complicated.
You were jolly lucky to miss the 'Ex RAF Club' on the Comet at Dan too, but you've guessed that already.