C130 icing tale
Back to the thread.
Op banner inbound to Wunstorf from Belfast. Went through some v heavy rain ice about 30 mins out. Dropped off the troops but as the R & R stops had a guaranteed time in Germany it was not possible to bring forward the departure to get away before the freezing rain fell. And it did! In a couple on minutes it was half a inch thick on the windscreens and the parking area. A total no go. We have to night stop.
Ops normal, pick up a crate, taxi to local gasthof where rumour had it that the owner had been a U boat captain in a previous life.
Kapitan spots our crate, goes berserk. You are not staying here. Tried to placate him by offering him to take control of the beer until our departure the next day but NO there was no room at the inn for us.
Hanover it would have to be but by now the Germans had closed the Autobahns after much ice induced crashing and taxis had prudently decided to stop running.
Off to the local station, where the only way to buy tickets was in books of 10. So there were some tickets left over which made handing in the unused tickets as part of the imprest a challenge.
Made it to Hanover, found a hotel via the Bahnhof accommodation bureau, drank the beer and had a good night. Can't remember if we told Group our new address. Took a couple of taxis back to Wunsdorf the next morning. We thought getting a train that stopped at Wunsdorf might be too much of a challenge for our limited language skills. Happy troops after an extra night out or NI.
1066