Fareastdriver,
As a Chinook driver, I found the Belvedere a fascinating creature when the RAF Museum let me crawl around their example a few years back. That step for the pax/troops must have been a hinderence (a ramp is so much easier..) and wriggling past the engine from the cabin to behind the LHS was a feat of dexterity that doesn't bear thinking about in the humidity of the Far East. Hats off to all of you guys who flew her, and set an enduring example.