The Rock That Rocks - 3

One such occasion happened the very next year when a small, handpicked team of professionals was allowed to take 3 aircraft to the Gib air day. Led by TLW, this 3-ship included the legendary ‘ginger minge’ otherwise known as Flt Lt Leighton Williams (God rest his soul) and I had Fg Off Gary ‘Fat Boy’ Davies in my back seat: what could possibly go wrong? Quite a lot really.

I do take some of the blame as I was unlucky to be bitten by the heavy centerline hose on a Tristar which whipped as I was withdrawing, leading to a bow wave the size the Titanic used to make and the rapid departure of the ‘bullet’ from the end of my probe. I had enough fuel to make it but was directed to RTB which we duly did. 2hrs and 30 mins later Fat Boy and I are on the pan at Lossie, TLW was on the pan in Gib! Leighton had gone u/s at start and was trying to get another aircraft; our return meant that another frame needed to be found.

There were only 2 left and one was a tanker, which led to much debate about whether I should tank again that day. Decision made: FB and I get the tanker, Leighton gets to suck us dry and maybe we make it (it was always tight as you couldn’t guarantee getting that 2000 lbs back from the pod). Once airborne our trip was uneventful until it came to the moment we had to give away our precious fuel. We gave what we could and then we waited to see whether we would end up in Portugal or Gib – thankfully the fuel transferred and we pressed on. Six hours and 30 mins flying that day but eventually we had 3 aircraft on the pan at Gib.

After welcome drinks and the inevitable fines, we headed to a small pre-air day party at BVs during which we lost Leighton. Asking around, we found out that he was last seen sitting on the wall outside. As all good wingmen know, you never leave your leader and Leighton was usually very reliable. Despite the loss, we decided to press to La Linea for a night-cap.

The next morning was bright and sunny but we were still missing Leighton at breakfast (not that he was a big eater). Further investigation was required: knocking on his door we got a sorry sounding reply and entered to find him lying in bed under his duvet. We encouraged him to tell his tale but he merely pulled back the duvet to reveal a pristine white cast covering a broken wrist. All became clear, he had disappeared ‘off the wall’ and somehow was patched up (we never found out how and by whom). FB and I went off to do the ‘flypast’ leaving TLW and Leighton to discuss how to get the third aircraft home.

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