Originally Posted by
Pontius Navigator
How about the Anson replacement, the Bassett, to ferry a V-bomber crew to a dispersal. Add a nav, a VIP toilet, and you finish up with an aircraft that dug its props in the taxiway and needed two aircraft to do the job.
The Basset didn't need a heavy load to dig its props in; Bovingdon had an undulating main runway and they did it virtually from when the first one was delivered.
I was told by a guy who worked for Shorts (who had the contract for ground support) that they simply cut a piece off the prop blades as they were delivered but somehow I don't think that's true.
About my last 'encounter' with the type (a civilian 206) was Roly Beamont departing from Brooklands one day (back in '75) ; his first call to Farnborough was 'I'm going to have to land with you, one of my propellors has fallen off'!