We replaced the main starboard undercarriage leg on a Wessex at Odiham in 1967, after the aircraft arrived in the circuit with it very broken after some extremely effective terrain-following flying on Salisbury Plain.
We had no spare, so the replacement item had to be robbed from an aircraft in the hangar. The Wessex was refuelled in the hover (Wessex in-flight refuelling!) and the pilot changed several times. I recall the whole exercise took over an hour. Afterwards, the paperwork took considerably longer...
It was a cold day, and working in the rotor downwash for a length of time in such conditions is a numbing experience. First (and last) time I have sought out the exhaust plume of a Gnome at full chat and ignored the smell, just to warm up...
