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Old 14th Dec 2011, 09:16
  #26 (permalink)  
BEagle
 
Join Date: May 1999
Location: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
Posts: 26,832
Received 277 Likes on 112 Posts
I don't think so, sitigeltfel.....

Back when Gorbachev met Maggie at Brize, some of us were tasked to assist the crews of the 4 Il-62s involved. Mine was the one with the KGB security folk on board, who were whisked off to the Gateway for lunch whilst we sorted out the aircrews' requirements.

On board the jet (with excellent cabin heating, unlike the FunBus), the chief flight attendant asked whether we'd like coffee. We accepted with grateful thanks, whereupon her Rosa Klebb countenance morphed into a friendly prep school matron's smile. From the galley appeared 3 gorgeous little Russian hosties with excellent coffee and some very tasty Russian chocolates. We went out of our way to say how good they were and thanked them - they turned pink and scuttled back to the galley like naughty little schoolgirls.

There was only one rather dubious looking chap on the jet - obviously the KGB aircraft security bloke who sat brooding in the corner in his track suit. But we even got him to smile when I saw the nest of chapka hats in the overhead rack and began stroking and miaowing at them - by then the Russians thought we were completely bonkers.

Eventually the American navigator came on board (the jet was due to land in the US) - rather a petite blonde captain. When we heard excited voices from the rather ursine flight deck crew, I asked our host why the female navigator was such a surprise - "Surely you have female aircrew in your air force?"

"Da, we do - but none like her!"

It was quite a fun day - the spooks went into a fluster when 39 out of 40 KGB in matching raincoats returned from the Gateway. They obviously concluded that the missing man was either defecting or taking photos of the decadent capitalist hotel. But then he appeared all hot and flustered and out of breath. Much barracking from his colleagues, so I queried our host.

"He in lavatory - miss bus. Had to walk!"

Sometimes the obvious reasons are overlooked!
BEagle is offline