All of the Belfast aircraft I travelled in had the seats on the ramp facing rearwards. I have no recollection whatsoever of the ramp being down when boarding, it was always raised.
One of our RAF team had an absolute phobia of flying???, and his fingers sometimes had to be prised off the arm rests after landing.
He managed to secretly consume large quantities of sedative tablets before and during flight and he was invariably semi-comatose for much of the time.
On a trip from the UK to Belize around 1972 via Keflavik, Gander, Nassau and Belize he was a shivering wreck. Never stopped him going though.
Would never happen today
