During the late 1970s I was a relatively new RAF Air Engineer and that, sometime after my OCU at RAF Lyneham (to the C-130K), I was asked to spend a couple of weeks at Boscombe Down to fly their C-130 whilst they were short of crew.
At that time Boscombe still had their own "Whistling Tit" and that one of the Boscombe Air Engs invited me to join him for a trip in the old lady. That particular Air Eng was MEng Lenny Edwards (who I had previously met on LXX Sqn). Given that Lenny knew that part of my basic Air Eng training was conducted on the Argosy simulator he said that I perhaps knew more about the aeroplane than he did (Lenny had said that he now had ten-hours on type)!
I followed Lenny around the aeroplane as we prepped-it for flight and that Lenny offered some useful advice... don't turn left as you exit the crew door or you'll otherwise end-up with an eye-full of VHF aerial!
The pilot's arrived on-scene and the crew got the "show on the road". Five circuits later, one of the three pilots had to get off the aeroplane to attend a meeting; hence, we landed and taxied around to the "Weighbridge Hangar" to drop the said pilot off at the dispersal (B Sqn in those days); at which point Lenny said, "I'm getting-off as well"! "Yours truly" ended-up fullfiling the Air Eng's role for the next dozen or so circuits without ever having qualified on-type.
Not long after my return to Lyneham the same aeroplane was "written-off" in a landing incident at West Freugh.
Happy days.
TCF