I've been following this thread since it first started and have enjoyed all the tales, but this is the first time I've ventured onto the thread, to ask a couple of questions.
Firstly, unless he is hiding behind a Bead Window, who or what was FATCOCK?
Secondly, what is flagging?
My one and only encounter with a Hercules was at Lyneham in 1968, when as a UAS APO, I was waiting for a trip to Akrotiri as a supernumerary in a Britannia.
At short notice (the engines were already running), I was offered a Hercules trip. I can't remember the official reason for the flight, but we deviated from the official plan for a rendezvous with a Campbeltown fishmonger at Macrihanish. While we were there, he made deliveries to two Varsities, one of which was from Cranwell.
I remember that there was some concern about the APU, so to avoid potentially having to explain why we were stuck on the ground at a place we shouldn't be, the Captain kept one of the engines running during the fishy transaction.
An added bonus of my few days at Lyneham was that I got to see Concorde 002 on its maiden flight from Filton to Fairford.