It sounds as if nothing has changed over the years!
Back in the sixties at RAF Colerne near Bath things were fairly primitive.
One year we called for the de-icer truck only to find it stuck in MT with a frozen block. It was the only vehicle on the Station not to have antifreeze in the radiator.
There were two Hastings Squadrons on the base 24 and 36. The respective Sqn Cdrs had different views on snow clearance.
24 Sqn would wait in the crewroom drinking coffee until the snow cleared itself. 36 Sqn would be ordered out into the white stuff with any vehicle or equipment that came to hand. With suitable displays of enthusiasm the aircrew would compact the snow until it looked as it there had been an improvement.
The end result was that 36 Sqn still had snow on the ramp in June.
One 36 Sqn captain (later it's CO.) penned the following take-off of a then current RAF recruiting advert. I can remember it to this day:
"Flying Officer Willoughby Sludge is co-pilot of a Hastings aircraft based at RAF Colerne. His duties are many and varied and include snow shovelling, snow shovelling and snow shovelling.
Says Sludge:" I enjoys my work. Somedays we shovels snow, somedays we shovels grit, other days we just shovels."
If you are of a subservient disposition and accustomed to extended periods of manual labour...consult your nearest RAF recruiting office and become one of the highest paid snow clearers in the country."