harrym:
Your story about loose flight engineers on the York rang a distant bell. This is what I wrote on the subject with reference to the Beverley:
"June (1959) also saw the arrival of flight engineers on No.53. It had originally been thought that there would be no need for a flight engineer on a Beverley crew since only short-haul flying was envisaged and that his duties could easily be performed by the two pilots. However, flights of ten hours and more had become common and among other duties, the co-pilot often had to dash off to hand-pump fresh oil into the thirsty Centaurus engines during flight. It was often said that Beverley crews navigated outbound and then followed the oil slick home! It should be noted that no autopilots were fitted for the first two years of the Beverley's life so the two pilots were kept busy. As an interim measure, a "director's (fold-up) chair" such as would be found in a film studio, was provided for the flight engineer to sit on. One wit even had the name "Shirley Temple" painted on the back of his chair. After a year or so, a folding jump-seat was fitted behind and between the two pilots".