And of course this one that I posted on the Thread of Threads.
Danny
Your mention of Dishforth earlier, together with your experiences of S**tehawks, goats, rats etc
What about the Dishforth Swan? Does the following ring bells? It must have happened in your time in the Vale of York.
RAF Dishforth in the '70's. RLG for 3FTS Leeming. This particular day the weather was dog. Heavy rain, low cloudbase, the works.
Four AirTraffickers sat in Local playing uckers waiting for the stack word from Leeming. "Hey, look at that" pipes up one of the 4.
There, on finals to a very wet runway 16, was a swan. The swan drops it's undercarriage over the threshold and alights on what it thinks is a lovely stretch of river/canal/lake etc.
In a blur of white and a cloud of feathers the swan becomes worse off and ends in a crumpled heap on the runway. Apparently Cat 5.
Crash One is despatched to recover the 'remains'.
The Crash Crew collect the swan and take it back to the Crash Bay. A couple of minutes later, they report via the Hadley Box, that the swan is only stunned and recovering quite nicely on the sofa in the Crash Bay crewroom.
Amazingly the swan is quite docile once it recovers.
The problem was that swans require a stretch of water to take off, Firemen know everything. The ensuing discussion as to what to do with the bird came to the conclusion that the swan needed transport to the canal at Ripon to join it's pals and return to nature.
Clearance from the Lords and Masters at Leeming was obtained to despatch Crash Two, with swan onboard, to the canal at Ripon. So Dishforth went Black with no Crash Cover.
The uckers game resumed.
Some time later a telephone call was received from North Yorkshire Constabulary basically informing the ATCO i/c that his Firemen were now 'assisting the police with enquiries' as to the matter of 'stealing a swan'.
Apparently, Crash Two had arrived at the Ripon Canal and the crew had carried the swan down the bank to join it's pals. Job done, the crew returned to Crash Two. However, the pals were not too keen on the 'new' member and turned on it. Amidst a cacophony of honking and clouds of feathers, the Dishforth swan made a beeline for Crash Two and safety, overtaking the returning crew.
A new plan had to be hatched.
In the mean time, the obligatory 'little old lady' had looked out of her window to see 'big, burly men stealing a swan from the canal' and promptly called the Ripon Constabulary.
After much explaining by the ATCO i/c, all became clear. Swan released to river (not canal), Crash Crew released to Dishforth. Endex.
Or so was thought.
Some time later, the Daily Telegraph got hold of the story and reported it 'big time'. The headline 'Swan closes major RAF base' caused some pride in the total complement of RAF Dishforth personnel. All 12 of them (4 ATC, 2 GRSF, 5 Firemen and a Medic). RAF Dishforth, a MAJOR RAF Base.
Does it ring bells?