Story #2

For all his exhortations of assistance, when it came to the crunch Private Bandicoot-fflipping proved remarkably reticent to 'muck in' with the live ammunition test. So the Brigadier did the only sensible thing: he sent a man around.

When the man arrived at the Bandicoot-fflipping residence he was surprised to see the good Private wedged firmly under the bonnet of what seemed to be an ordinary Vauxhall Viva. Upon discussion with him however the Brigadier's man soon discovered that it was no ordinary Viva, for Private Bandicoot-fflipping had, in his spare time, developed the world's first practical antigravity hovercraft engine.

The problem was that he had wished to surprise everyone with it at the test that morning, but a motivator had shorted out and it could now hover but not move. The Brigadier's man, no slouch at engineering himself, came up with a solution.

And so it was that Private Bandicoot-fflipping was able to take part in the test in his battlefield Viva, ably towed by the Brigadier's man on a bicycle. This worked so well that Private Bandicoot-fflipping was able to sell the patents to the Royal Ministry of Defense and retire to a cottage in the country, while around the world the business of warfare continued, although now it involved considerably more cyclists.