LXX - in the Old Days
Back in the early 60s, flew as pax in a LXX Hastings from Nicosia to Khartoum, where one of our pointy jets had gone u/s on return from a detachment to Eastleigh. An hour or so into the trip, chuntering across the Med towards El Adam, I went up to the flight deck. To my astonishment, only one pilot visible - in the right-hand seat. "Where's D***?" I enquired, innocently. "Down there" replied the Flt Eng - pointing to the "bomb-aimer's" position below the flight deck. "He had a hard night last night".
Then there was the time another LXX Hastings had brake failure while taxying at Nicosia. The nose-shaped dent in our (corrugated iron) hangar wall was still there when I left the station some months later.
Happy days! I'm sure the spirit will be undimmed when LXX re-forms with the A400M.