Major thread-drift, but another article on the Klassiker der Luftfahrt website tells of how a Luftwaffe Transall was chartered by the RAF to airlift a RR Merlin from Coningsby to Amsterdam where the B.o.B Flight Lancaster was stranded after problems with No.4 engine.
Apparently the RAF were a bit stretched in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Interesting article, and a touch ironic.
