Before I became a pilot I was a technician working on Mirage aircraft, I was an Instrument fitter, a trade that I really enjoyed.  At this time I was posted to Number 2 Operational Conversion Unit (2OCU) where our Senior Maintenance Officer was a man by the name of Alan Eddy Smith and he over saw all aspects of maintenance and as a side responsibility, discipline. Squadron Leader Smith was a strict man with a fairly portly physique and quite skinny legs.  The troops, as we were known, were quite careful around him knowing that he could turn quite nasty at discovering any incompetence or disciplinary excursion however, for the most part he was fair.  On this particular day the squadron aircraft were at an ordinance readiness area being prepared for a weapons program.  The only maintenance crews back at the hangar were the rectification crew who fixed any unserviceable aircraft that returned to the hangar.  There was one unserviceable aircraft sitting on the flight line right beside the hangar waiting to be towed to the engine run bay for testing.  The flight line was a large expanse of concrete that sloped downward to a grated drainage pit then on the other side it sloped back up again to where a sister squadron had its flight line so it was kind of a valley with a reasonable slope to it. Luckily the sister squadron was away and there were no obstacles present on either flight line. Myself and several other troops were on the morning parade being inspected by Mr. Smith.  At the same time the engine rectification crew were connecting the aircraft to a tow tractor to take it away for testing.  The aircraft was configured with very large external drop tanks that were full of fuel and so it was very heavy.  The tow bar connected to the aircraft had a sheer pin that would break should the nose wheel assembly to which it was connected be subjected to excess load.  When towing a Mirage a troop sat in the cockpit monitoring the hand brake in case the sheer pin broke ready to apply it should this happen.  Unfortunately, the engine rectification crew did not check the maintenance log of the aircraft prior to towing it.  The maintenance log had an entry whereby the hand brake if activated would bleed all hydraulic fluid to zero and therefore was inoperative.  So the engine rectification crew hooked up the aircraft, removed the wheel chocks and hung them over the left drop tank. (there were two chocks connected with a rope), a troop confidently climbed into the cockpit and called ready for the towing to begin.  The aircraft moved forward about a meter when, you guessed it, the sheer pin broke.  The tow tractor driver seeing this called out loudly “BRAKES!” the troop in the cockpit was not paying attention at this critical moment so there was a slight delay in the attempted application of the park brake.  Mr. Smith hearing this looked over from his inspection only to see the aircraft starting to move in reverse.  The troop in the cockpit finally applied the park brake and of course it didn’t work, much to his surprise, and those of the engine rectification crew.  By the time the gravity (pun) of the situation dawned on everybody the aircraft had gathered surprising momentum rearwards.  Mr. Smith then shouted at one of the troops to chase after the aircraft and grab the chocks from the drop tank and place it behind the left main wheel.  Realising that to do so while the aircraft was moving quite quickly would result in it sitting on its behind causing a lot of damage so Mr. Smith shouted the order to wait until the aircraft had reached its zenith of travel before inserting the chocks.  The troop was a bit hasty however, and the chocks were inserted too soon whereby the aircraft climbed the rear chock slightly and then reversed its direction of travel back to where it had come from.  Mr. Smith then informed the troop of his shortcomings and ordered him to retry and chase the aircraft down.  Now the spectacle of Mr. Smith, a portly gentleman with skinny legs, chasing a troop and a runaway aircraft was not lost on the troops gathered for the morning parade who were now in hysterics.  The engine rectification crew were also chasing the aircraft giving an impression of the old movies of the ‘Caper Cops’ routines.  However, it was not yet over as the troop carrying the chocks attempting to insert them at the next zenith of the aircrafts forward travel tripped over and missed the second opportunity to secure the wayward machine.  Mr. Smith by now was infuriated and once again reminded the chock carrying troop of his ineptitude in no uncertain terms.  The aircraft reached its forward travel summit and proceeded to travel rearwards again followed by four people desperately trying to recapture it.  This time, thankfully, the troop inserted the chock at the precise moment required and the aircraft was finally stopped.

For the engine rectification crew it was not over as Mr. Smith was hell bent on having them pay for not following the appropriate protocols of fully checking all maintenance unserviceabilities before moving an aircraft.  The crew were charged and given fairly light sentences for the incident.  We on the parade were also chastised for our reaction to the whole debacle but thankfully not charged.  Probably one of the funniest events that I have ever witnessed.