Well I have to confess to having a wicked sense of humour that sometimes gets a little mischievous.

I was an aircraft maintenance engineer in the Royal Australian Air Force and worked with a special flying squadron known as ARDU
(Aircraft Research and Development Unit).

I worked on engines and we had a small fleet of Dakota C47 transports that were converted for calibrating airfield navigation equiment such as ILS (Instrument landing sytem) and radar accuracy testing. They were slow, stable and reliable.

One day I was working on an engine doing a routine service which included dropping the oil filter to inspect it for metal contamination.

This was a simple job but required know how because you had to stand on the main wheel, pull out the filter and evade the pint of black thick oil that came out with it.

We had a young engineering officer who used to get sick of paperwork and would come into the hangar to 'help' the tradesmen. He was a bloody nuisance.

Anyway one day he came out when I was about to inspect the oil filter and asked if he could do it. He was dressed in his officers uniform and not overalls I might add.

Well you never pass up an opportunity so I said sure, you pull it out after undo the nuts. I positioned him directly under the filter and he pulled it out and wore a pint or so of thick gluggy oil all over his head and uniform.

Meanwhile Leading Aircraftsman Grumble was rolling on the hangar floor pissing himself with laughter. Not a good career move I might add as I got the shittiest jobs for a very long time.

Mind you Flt Lt Hobday did cease annoying the troops from then on