Aahh Doug,
Precision as always. As a follow up to the superb video provided by November4 I wonder if anyone remembers the little "cheat" that Lyneham operated during Volant Rodeo. I'm fairly certain that Max B was top driver on VR whilst I was a GE. I was allocated a route to Pope, and no further, with a week off
on arrival at Pope our aircraft was gladly accepted by the line support crew for the VR aircraft, and duly used for the practise days. Unlike my, as I recall, 30 Sqdn crew (Boris was the Nav ISTR), the linies on the VR det insisted that as I was the GE, I should turn up daily to see Max B and crew off in "my" frame, whilst they practised formation ground power plugging/unplugging and polishing "their" frame !! Anything for a quiet life, and, as the Heart of Fayettville was fully booked we were accommodated at another fine establishment. Imagine my surprise on arriving back at our hotel for "happy hour" to find Boris and crew had bought a couple of very efficient water pistols to "tease" the bar staff with. The bar staff reciprocated with iced water, which was a pleasant change to my usual shower. Was our "spare aircraft" ploy a one off, or normal practice ? I must say, I never got sent anywhere to have time off (JACIG excepted) so a bit of a mystery. It has to be said though that I worked every day I was there, usually the beer facilities, hot dogs .........
Smudge
