Hi. I’ve got quite a few of these true events on 617’s dispersal in the fifties.
Theres a new erk on the dispersal and I get the job of showing him round the Lincoln on a need to know basis. The NAAFI wagon had been and as it was a cold day, we took our coffee and wads up into the nose out of the wind and carried on my chat. Break being over, we tidied up and before I could stop him the newby threw his coffee dregs down what looked like drain in the floor. It wasn’t a drain, far worse and I held my breath. There was a bang and a thud and a ten man dinghy popped out of its stowage in the wing root. The look alike drain was the flotation switch for the dinghy in case of a ditching at sea! The lad received 7 days CC and had pay stoppages towards the cost of replacing the dinghy. Fun over for the day!
Ken