Talking of guns, the Americans brought a detachment of Chinooks to Odiham in 1979 or '80, I think it was (before ours were delivered). They went over to Salisbury Plain to work with the army. They got tasked with underslinging the participating regiment's "number one" gun (the nice shiny engraved one, used for ceremonial purposes). Unfortunately the pilots forgot it was on a 100 foot strop and flew over a wood at less than 100 feet above the trees........
Didn't do the barrel much good but it made a nice new firebreak, anyway.
Yup three from Colman W Germany..
One had an oleo stuck at full extension, so sat at a weird angle. They had an American Chinook de-phase and the rotor slicing through the fuselage took out a crewman sadly and if I remember correctly, it was traced to a failed bolt on the shafts coming out of the combining box, they brought out a mod to increase the diameter of the bolt and a Boeing rep came out to fit the new bolts, he put the reamer in a windy drill and wrecked two boxes and shafts before being stopped, or that is what I was told at the time, hence they sat on the side of the taxy way for ages awaiting spares. I seem to remember the fault was traced to the fact that instead of turning the shaft until they aligned and popped in, they were getting them close then using a jacking handle on the shaft flange and the frame to force them in before fitting the bolt, that was under strain.