Arty:
27 Mar 2002. I have a piccy of some 72 Sqn renegades posing on the tower stairs. Closed the next day. Said creamie (who shall remain nameless, so let's call him Michael) did indeed take the plunge the night before and somebody nicked his clothes. Suitably chastened the next morning, we realised his jolly jape could have been misconstrued as drunken drowning, with all the attendant complications of police, lifeboats and the general mayhem associated with a 72 Sqn visit. Ah well, nobody hurt, the clothes eventually turned up and the surf and turf went down well as always.
Personally, during the confused ransacking of the tower, I was after the impressive German WW2 submarine binoculars which were mounted on an impressive, er, mounting. These had been removed for 'servicing' (yeah, right) by management the previous week once they'd been informed of the closure. So all I got to steal was an RAF issue bible from the downstairs flight planning bit next to Met Man's place. Said bible may well be still languishing in 72's staff crewroom and I shall undoubtedly go to hell. I often wonder what part of a pre-flight briefing the bible filled.