The aforementioned car park was the best acquisition aid for the drop zone. En route from the south for a noon drop the sun's reflection in 2000 car windscreens was blinding. We had spent a quiet evening the night before like England footy supporters in Brussels being royally entertained by M***y B****s the exchange officer, and had sampled most of the trappist beers. The last one I recall was drunk from a china skull in a subterranean bar with coffin lids as tables. We didn't need a complicated plot for the lowlevel across Belgium the following morning so the brief was simple "Keep up and cope". After getting a priority departure demanded by the Belgique crew in Flemish as a War Memorial flight the gaggle of 5 Brits and 2 Belgian a/c launched out to the north east. As luck had it we picked up the car park at 10 miles to go but we were running 20 seconds early. The Brigadier in charge was not jumping and on the flight deck. "Would you like to fly over the Jack Frost bridge, Sir? " I solicitously enquired. "Oh, very much so" he replied. So the whole formation turned 30 deg right for 1 minute over to the "bridge too far" then came back onto the run in at 2 minutes "Action Stations" bang on time. It's WHO you know.
