treadigraph:
You asked earlier on about Otrag Range Services; the idea was to construct a rocket launching site in Zaire. I think it was a German (or an Austrian) company.
They bought two ex RAF Argosys:
XP446 became 9Q-COE and XR136 became 9Q-COA.
One of my good friends went to work for them. He did a trip from Lubumbashi to their up-country strip in 9Q-COE on 01.06.79. Unfortunately, they made a bit of a "firm" arrival. After unloading, they had a look around the aircraft and didn't see any obvious damage so they flew back to Lubumbashi. A closer inspection revealed wrinkles in the booms so the aircraft never flew again.
My South African friend (Brian S.) spotted the remains at Lubumbashi some years ago and sent me a few photographs. There was not a hell of a lot of it left.
The other one was broken up at East Midlands in 1981.
Going back to Noddy; if you really wanted to frighten yourself, a really good wheeze was to put the periscopic sextant up and look backwards. Not only did the booms flex, so did the tailplane and the fins nodded! I always assumed that it was all meant to do that.
You are right; Ken is sadly missed. I knew him through 53 Sqn and RAFGSA gliding. He was indeed a gent and his book is far from boring.
By the way, there is a lot of information to be found on:
ARDET Reunion Website