Canberra story;
A friend recently showed me her Dad's logbook from his time as an RAF navigator. He had done a tour on Canberra's which included an exchange with the RAAF.
One flight somewhere remote, but I can't recall the exact location has a comment in the remarks column "hatch blew out and lost at altitude."
The following flight says in the remarks column "sent to retrace route and look for missing hatch"
Must have been a shock losing the hatch, which I assume was the entry door on the right side, but a boss with a sense of pragmatism, nay even humor? i.e. You lost it, you find it!
Modern day boss equivalent; 1. Suspension until inquiry. 2 Fill out health and safety risk assessment form. 3. Fill out environmental impact statement as a result of said lost hatch. 4. Fill out countless requisition forms for new hatch. 5. Attend hatch loss training course as refresher training. 6. Fill out and collect witness statements etc. 7. Subject crew to hatch closing and operating procedure check. 8. Grudgingly release crew to return to service after several months.
I think I've just finally achieved cynical, boring old fart status with this post, but hey, I do miss the simpler life.
Meanwhile, back to Canberras. They were beautiful weren't they?
Cheers all,
BSD.