Tailwheels for Goosequill
You were so right about the tailwheels. I don't know how on earth Bomber Command had any aircraft left whose tailwheel hadn't been thoroughly rotted through. If I remember rightly they were not all retractable and so it would have been quite common for the whole tailwheel assembly to drop off somewhere during the flight or on landing , simply due to the amount of acid that it been doused with during it's career. It was supposed to be for "Good Luck" and it certainly worked for me. I had a good laugh when I read your Chiefy's quotation. It was so true also. It was always his Kite and we had to respect that. The Ground crews were the salt of the Earth and were inconsolable when, as so often happened, their Kite did not return.