3 Sqn Engine Change
"Endex. Lots of Mexe, with Sappers waiting to rip it up. Can the jet be fixed in time to fly out, or will it be a road move?"
Memory fades over the intervening years but was it Sqn Ldr Keith Holland who 'air tested' a 3 Sqn aircraft, after an engine change in the field under one of those blow up rubber hangers (and after everyone else had decamped back to Wildenrath, excepting the engineers + fire & ATC bods) with Sappers waiting impatiently to rip-up the MEXE pad - possibly 1975/76?
I seem to remember a vertical 'rotating' departure from MEXE pad after much faffing about with engine revs etc, followed by a low level (below tree height) fly by in front of assembled engineers - who seemed quite appreciative of said pilot's efforts!
It may have been the same deployment that saw the Canadian Air Force 'attack' us through the trees with their CF-104's which led the ATC controller to put just one word in his log after logging the attack - "WOW!!".
On the other hand they may just be distant memories distorted by the rapid passing of time...........