Not quite a passenger faux pas, but close. In about 1966 whilst I was flying the SAR Whirlwind 7 at RNAS Culdrose it was decided, as it was Christmas, to fly Christmas cakes to any ships deploying at that time who wer passing close to the Lizard. Quess who got the delivery jobs. One of the ships going to sea just before Christmas was a diesel submarine of the old school. No problem finding her but it was too rough to put their crew on to the deck to collect the cake, so a winch down of said cake into the conning tower was the only answer. The bridge crew peeked into the bag containing the cake and disappeared down the hatch! One small thing they had forgotten was to unhook the winch hook! Keep winching down to keep us at a reasonable height above the coning tower as the wire kept on going down! Radio contact - you must be joking! I just sat there thinking we must be the first Whirlwind to be towed into the south west approaches by a submarine. Several minutes later a very sheepish looking officer appeared with a coil of winch wire and a hook. In the bag - a bottle of duty free. Great Christmas....
