Indirectly related ditt on slow flying VC10s. Many many moons ago, A VC10 was sitting on the pan at a well known base in the Mediterranean during a routine turnaround. It was one of those temporary and normally very short lulls in the turnaround process and there only two personnel in the immediate vicinity of the aircraft. The first was a mover driving a fork lift truck towards the aircraft. The second was a Queens Courier (for those that may not know these individuals were, generally speaking, former WO/SNCOs drawn from all Three Services that worked in conjunction with the British Army's Postal and Courier Services) who was 'guarding' the diplomatic mail that had already been loaded in the forward hold. As the mover approached the aircraft he spotted a piece of FOD on the pan and mindful of the hazard he brought the fork lift truck to a halt and jumped off to remove the offending item. Regrettably, in his enthusiasm he forgot to properly engage the hand brake and, temporarily distracted by the need to collect the FOD, did not notice the vehicles slow but steady progress towards the VC10. By good fortune (very temporary) the QC spotted the impending collision and gallantly intercepted and mounted the fork lift truck in an attempt to halt its progress. Unfortunately the QC somehow confused the brake pedal with the accelerator and almost simultaneously managed to raise the forks which, shortly afterwards, punched two neat holes in the lower surfaces of the fuselage.
There followed a long, slow and low transit flight back to the UK.