Smudge, You make me laff. Your stories always prompt thoughts from times past. My Rolex story (no I don't own one) Whilst doing some airdrop stuff with the French down at Biscorose an Ex VC10 Air Eng (we called him slippery) lost his in the sea when he was messing with a jet ski. Could not have happened to a nicer bloke!
Talking of jet Skis I would love to uncover the truth about the Jet Skis bought from my budget on an airdrop trial out at Pt Magu. I never went on that occasion. someone must know.
Satisfying Coffs thirst for stuff also got me thinking about one of your GE mates (still serving as a VR I think so no names or clues but if he reads this he will know) We bought a bit of kit called a Tow plate for the J. it enabled a drogue to be deployed and tied to the ramp. (it helped take out the variability of parachute deployment time for greater accuracy) it was electrically operated such that at "green on" it would release and allow the load to be extracted. It could also be manually operated to jettison the drogue like EPERU by pulling a lever (not unlike the ULLA Aft Restraint mechanism (ARM) we used with SPAD. Anyway this chap wanted to play. he had not read the book (no AP) we had not granted switch on clearance or anything. When he plugged the thing into the socket at FS245 sparks shot out. He must of shat himself. A few days later Dragartist received a report saying the kit was US when unpacked and should be returned to the supplier for replacement or our money back. I asked for a F760. Weeks went by still no report on my desk describing the fault. A year later the guy admitted fitting it to the aircraft and switching it on without authority or any clearances. It would appear it worked just fine at Boscombe when they bolted it down properly. The fool did not realise it needed to be earthed through the fixing bolts. Hence the sparks. And just like AA62 TROC story I bought a long set of cables for a Mk4 and short set for a Mk3.