Just to complete the XV246 `Chokky Bomber' saga. The aircraft did visit Luqa, in its 2nd brown colour scheme, between the 20th and 23rd of August 1977. While it was in Malta `boffins' put temp probes in the fuselage, together with a recording system. They also identically probed a nearby (white) 203 Sqn ac. Local rumour suggested 46 was actually cooler inside than the based ac, which went against the basic physics of the time, for as white reflects heat, the 203 ac should have been the cooler over the 3 days of the trial.
Which leads me neatly, a little off topic, to RAF buses! In Malta, they were all white in 1975; then with the general tone down of the time, they were painted overall matt green. But, it was said, the heat inside these buses so affected visiting APC detachments that some were repainted, with the green roof restored to white. Then, someone, somewhere else, ran into an overall matt green bus in the dark. So the edict was issued to paint a yellow stripe along the side to aid visibility. There must have been a committee involved because we ended up with at least two, matt green, gloss yellow and gloss white buses until I left in 1978!
It is fair to say that The APC Specials turned many a local's head, especially when compared with the free-wheeling, lime green, local buses. Happy daze....