DCThumb,
I'm sorry sir, I take exception to that charge
Despite the fact that I may well have been the only C130 GE with a Q to Carry out repairs to low reserve structures (Cat3 repairs), I never returned from Norway having been involved in a "Bump". A good friend of mine (Joe Ion) did though I believe, and may well be your GE of choice. The joys of driving Albert on the ground on snow always drew out my admiration for you drivers Airframe, I had a go once at Gander (under very close supervision) - 23 degrees, rime ice and everything more slippy than playing golf on ice. As a direct result of that I decided not to downgrade from TG1 to Aircrew
My funniest taxying incident was a trip to Tancos, a Portuguese Airbase. During an exercise, I stood behind the Captain during the taxi in, and the bloke who marshalled us in looked just like the movements SAC I had been drinking with in Corlu (Turkey) about two weeks before (in fact, exactly as he looked as he left the bar). His antics in front of the aircraft were definitely "interesting" but not too informative. On stopping I asked the skipper to keep the donks running, and let the Loadie and myself get out to look. The sight of the RH main wheels sinking slowly into the bondu the idiot had put them on, and I don't mean the Captain, was horrific. Luckily, some power and left hand down saved the day. On asking the relevant questions, the SAC had no authorisation to marshall aircraft, but thought it would be fun to have a go. Funnily enough, the same bloke nearly removed a couple of my fingers in Goose bay a year or so later. He grounded the ramp as I was putting the nose wheel lock pin in. He had no authorisation to operate the aircraft ramp either. He tried to insist that the Loadmaster had cleared him to do it. I left him in discussion with the rather large, Flt Lt, Loadmaster, some may know who I mean. Anyone who knows me, should also know that I put no criticism on anyone. I'm merely relating a previous experience (accidents happen). I hope I'm not to receive PMs asking me to modify a genuine recollection to avoid "embarrassment".
Smudge