Kookabat,
It's heart-warming for an old man to hear that things he knew so well seventy years ago are still being done in exactly the same way today. But yes, a 747 would be a bit of a handful (how about an Airbus 380?)
Suggestions: a) How about a big turntable - like the ones the old steam locos were turned round on (it would have to be "de-gaussed", of course, like the shipping in WW2); b) jacking the thing up and mounting each wheel on a sort of castor or sideways-facing roller skate (plus an elephant to push it - or the turntable -) round ? Pom Pax (#2721) knows the market, may be able to find you one.
Danny
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Fareastdriver,
Yes, wasn't there a case donkey's years ago when a civil crew put "George" in; then all went to sleep over the Sahara; the Nav had set the variation on the compass master unit wrong way round; they awoke about a thousand miles off track; it was a bit hairy but they managed to get it down somewhere all right, as I remember, but had some explaining to do to the passengers.
Danny.
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Chugalug,
Yes, it wan't a comfortable situation to be living in, but we got the job done all the same, and had a few laughs on the way. But the Partition massacres were no joke - unfortunately, when they got rid of the Hated Colonial Oppressor, Pax Britannica went with him.
I don't think B.C. crews at home had to hand fill their belts; I suppose Command would decide the sequence and the factory or M.U. would do the job wholesale (it would be all the same for all the guns) on some sort of machine, so the stuff would come ready for the AG to load into his turret. Don't really know.
Compass Swinging Platforms found a subsidiary use as Station roller-skating rinks in the years when that was the current craze.
Danny.