Many, many years ago, we used to run an F27 from Norwich to Humberside, and frequently were given headings to avoid the fast stuff.
Ah yes, the good old Yukair 'Norwich Flier'. Often intercepted by the Wattisham F-4 wing - but I don't think anyone got close enough to worry the F-27 crew.
Funnily enough, 2 of us once flew back from Edinburgh to Norwich on that aircraft after a JMC debrief. We knew it was going to be interesting when the undercarriage stopped in the Grand Old Duke of York position on departure as the pneumatic system had run out of puff. But after a few minutes it repressurised, up came the wheels and we accelerated noticeably! Then we were supposed to land at Leeds-Bradford, but after a few attempts we diverted to East Midlands. At the stroke of 22:00, the hosties looked very cheerful - when we asked why, they told us that the delay had put them on some minimum overtime pay rate. "Ah, I see. That'll be 2 large gin and tonic, please!", I said to the number one - and bless her, she duly obliged. Then off to Norwich - only to get bounced by one of our own F-4s....
Worst part of the whole trip was the Norwich to Wattisham road journey -2 of us plus MT driver and our kit squeezed into a mini for 90 minutes....
