John:
Good to hear that you spoke to Eddie. I shall go and see him next month.
Anyway, my curiosity has got the better of me and I have been doing a bit of research into which Harrier accident caused the Sao Paulo Harrier to be grounded.
We left Brize on 09 September 73 and flew up to Wittering in XR364 to collect the "fighting" Harrier. It was loaded on to its cradle during the night and we left Wittering on 10 September and flew directly to Sal. After a night stop, we flew to Sao Paulo via Recife and so arrived on 11 September.
I have found five Harrier accidents in 1973 and the most likely candidate is:
06 September 73 GR3 XV750 20 Sqn Wildenrath "Engine cut, abandoned."
Was this the one where the compressor casing nuts went down the compressor?
I note that 20 Sqn lost three Harriers in two months in Germany. The other two were caused by bird strikes.