Apocryphal tale.
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Apocryphal tale.
This is as I heard it.
A 43sqn. F4 ( resplendent with its fighting cock emblem on the fin ) is out over the North Sea mixing it with other playmates when a problem causes it to divert to the nearest suitable airfield, Wattisham.
The problem is an overnight fix, so the jet is pushed into the maintenance hangar alongside some resident 74sqn F4’s ( resplendent with their tiger head emblems on their fins ) and the crew are suitably entertained by the resident crews in the mess.
Next morning word comes their jet is ready, so the crew are driven to the flight line where their mount awaits them. As well as repairing the problem, the engineers have painted large tiger paw prints along one wing and down the spine, painted out the cockerel, and replaced it with a few floating feathers and a couple of chicken bones. The crew had to fly it back to Leuchars in this state.
Now I think this a great tale whatever, but is it true? You see I vaguely remember seeing a photo of said jet but can’t remember where or when.
Anybody shed any light as to the veracity of this one?
A 43sqn. F4 ( resplendent with its fighting cock emblem on the fin ) is out over the North Sea mixing it with other playmates when a problem causes it to divert to the nearest suitable airfield, Wattisham.
The problem is an overnight fix, so the jet is pushed into the maintenance hangar alongside some resident 74sqn F4’s ( resplendent with their tiger head emblems on their fins ) and the crew are suitably entertained by the resident crews in the mess.
Next morning word comes their jet is ready, so the crew are driven to the flight line where their mount awaits them. As well as repairing the problem, the engineers have painted large tiger paw prints along one wing and down the spine, painted out the cockerel, and replaced it with a few floating feathers and a couple of chicken bones. The crew had to fly it back to Leuchars in this state.
Now I think this a great tale whatever, but is it true? You see I vaguely remember seeing a photo of said jet but can’t remember where or when.
Anybody shed any light as to the veracity of this one?
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Wouldn't be surprised - zapping the rivals was all the rage in my time. I recall I personally witnessed.
66 (Hunter 6) were resident at Acklington (late 50s) when 74 (Hunters) were visiting for a gunnery camp. The morning they left all the fearsome Tiger Heads had been reduced to a sort of Kellogs Tony the Tiger - droopy whiskers, woebegone expression - quite artistically done too!
Early 60s Coningsby - 9 Sqn (Canberra 6) went out to the strip one morning to find all the Bats on the tail fins were wearing spectacles and a few had guide dogs.
617 (Vulcan) Edinburgh Field (Oz). A pair of size 10 footprints left a trail from the port wingtip up the wing, down into the air intakes, out No 2 jetpipe, across the wing , turned back down the fuselage, up the fin - appearing to use the lightning bolts as steps, over the top and down the other side, back out across the starboard wing and jumping off the tip. (this was when the Vs were still all white.)
66 (Hunter 6) were resident at Acklington (late 50s) when 74 (Hunters) were visiting for a gunnery camp. The morning they left all the fearsome Tiger Heads had been reduced to a sort of Kellogs Tony the Tiger - droopy whiskers, woebegone expression - quite artistically done too!
Early 60s Coningsby - 9 Sqn (Canberra 6) went out to the strip one morning to find all the Bats on the tail fins were wearing spectacles and a few had guide dogs.
617 (Vulcan) Edinburgh Field (Oz). A pair of size 10 footprints left a trail from the port wingtip up the wing, down into the air intakes, out No 2 jetpipe, across the wing , turned back down the fuselage, up the fin - appearing to use the lightning bolts as steps, over the top and down the other side, back out across the starboard wing and jumping off the tip. (this was when the Vs were still all white.)
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Pink Harrier T bird (T4) arriving at Gut from France. That is 100% pink. Turned around and flown to Witterng for repaint, which is surprising as Gut had a paintshop at the time.
One or two occasions when bits of aeroplane that should not be painted at all getting zapped; such as nose radomes, rendering the cab u/s.
One or two occasions when bits of aeroplane that should not be painted at all getting zapped; such as nose radomes, rendering the cab u/s.
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Any time the Kiwis came over to "The West island" on exercise, little dayglo Kiwis would appear on every piece of Australian equipment, both fixed and moveable, by the morning of Day 2.
We "Westies", Chinagraph pencils ever at the ready, didn't always take it lying down, as the photographs below will attest.
You'll note in the photograph above that the Oz Navy had got in earlier with a stencil of their own.
We "Westies", Chinagraph pencils ever at the ready, didn't always take it lying down, as the photographs below will attest.
You'll note in the photograph above that the Oz Navy had got in earlier with a stencil of their own.
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The there was Giant Voice(69 or 70 -can't remember which.)
We were at McCoy AFB and were allocated the old Hound Dog hangar as our engineering base / workshop. McCoy was 2nd Air Force, S.A.C. and the logo above the hangar door was a huge figure 2 with wings and underneath on a curlicue the motto "Second To None".
Within hours there was an equal sized logo of the RAF Cap badge with the motto "None" on it.
We were at McCoy AFB and were allocated the old Hound Dog hangar as our engineering base / workshop. McCoy was 2nd Air Force, S.A.C. and the logo above the hangar door was a huge figure 2 with wings and underneath on a curlicue the motto "Second To None".
Within hours there was an equal sized logo of the RAF Cap badge with the motto "None" on it.
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At a secret Cornish Airforce Base in the late 70's, American P3 Orion parks up for an overnight stop, with an ornate Indian Chief's head emblazoned on fin. By dawn next day this had been modified with the addition of embedded dayglo arrows complete with cartoon movement streaks along the fuselage. Same location, similar time, first Nimrod in hemp colour arrives in a fetching shade of brown, decorated with dayglo toilets on the fin and the logo "Elsan Air". Nice! 
I seem to remeber reading this one in Peters' and Nichol's book Team Tornado. Perhaps it also has a photo? I had a copy but haven't read it for getting on for a decade, so have no idea where it is...
..And navy Scimitars (?) at Tengah in the early 60's had 81 sqdn groundcrew put cardboard anchors in buckets of water and attached to the noseleg over one lunchtime.
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I heard the original story when I was doing some research into the history of the Canberra. It may well have happened with the Phantom, but I certainly saw the pictorial evidence of a bird eaten by a tiger, paw prints etc on the side of a Canberra. Can't quite remember the where or when (may have been Akrotiri, early 60s), but I'll dig the info out in due course.
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Boscombe were / are famous for 'zapping' visiting aircraft with virtually indestructible orange dayglo stickers.
When a visiting Sea Harrier ( forget the squadron, the lot with the white gauntlet on the fin - 809 ? ) stayed overnight, it came back to Dunsfold resplendent with a dayglo version, middle finger extended !
As far as I know it stayed there for the life of the aircraft.
The earlier account of a Lightning being tampered with sounds about right - my ex- boss's squadron hosted a 'Tiger' Lightning just before a display, by the morning the aggressive looking Tiger on the fin had been replaced by the dippy looking 'Tony, They'rre Great' as in the Sugar Frosties Ad'...
BTW, a pink Harrier T4 ( P.R ? ) is a new one on me, or was that the victim of another overnight job ?!
When a visiting Sea Harrier ( forget the squadron, the lot with the white gauntlet on the fin - 809 ? ) stayed overnight, it came back to Dunsfold resplendent with a dayglo version, middle finger extended !
As far as I know it stayed there for the life of the aircraft.
The earlier account of a Lightning being tampered with sounds about right - my ex- boss's squadron hosted a 'Tiger' Lightning just before a display, by the morning the aggressive looking Tiger on the fin had been replaced by the dippy looking 'Tony, They'rre Great' as in the Sugar Frosties Ad'...
BTW, a pink Harrier T4 ( P.R ? ) is a new one on me, or was that the victim of another overnight job ?!
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Herc zap
I seem to remember a Herc, that happened to be visiting the States during the Bi-Cenntenial celebrations of 1976, returning to Lyneham having been zapped by the hosts. The props were painted red/white/blue, the tail had a very large (I think!) AMC badge and the fuselage was resplendant with a star bangled blue band that went right around the rear fuselage. I wished I had had a camera as it was pretty impressive. Anyone have a picture?
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Ah but 43 got their own back a few years later when Typhoon prototype ZH588 (the sexy black one) was up at Leuchars conducting some HAS-compatibility trials. It soon had a Fighting Cock on the tail fin (might be the only time you'll see that) which it still sports to this day.... in the RAF Museum at Hendon!
And in 1996, the 5-foot high squadron crest at the entrance to 74(F) Sqn complete with motto "I FEAR NO MAN" was subtley altered with the addition of the letter "R". The next day a mystery caller rang the Ops desk & simply said "Hello, I'm Norman.....".
ExA
And in 1996, the 5-foot high squadron crest at the entrance to 74(F) Sqn complete with motto "I FEAR NO MAN" was subtley altered with the addition of the letter "R". The next day a mystery caller rang the Ops desk & simply said "Hello, I'm Norman.....".
ExA