smudge,
I wonder why they took a G/E on a drop at Keevil. I have no recollection of doing so but with my memory who knows ? NO ONE went aft of the heavy drop load after the final checks had been completed when I was the ALM unless very closely escorted by me AND they had a good reason to do so. The potential for something going wrong was real enough as it was. Some non AD army personnel did not understand the forces involved but the temptation to put some fool in the landrover must have been high.
Apart from the role equipment fitters and some others we rarely carried spare bods on heavy drop sorties. If we did my brief was simple. They remained at FS 245 until I signalled otherwise. This would only be once the drop had exited and we all trundled aft to check the parachutes had opened.