Originally Posted by
jrl767
15-minute thru stops at Fort Nelson and Watson Lake on a plane the size of a Brit must have been entertaining
Given the ever-present difficulties with starting the Britannia's Bristol Proteus (alias "Protesting" to the crew) engines, which might include the ground crew holding onto the prop blades, each engine in turn, until a certain point in the sequence (scary sounding but I don't think anyone was ever chopped by it) I would say the flight engineer would have their work cut out to come even close to such times. The DC6B may have fired up its R-2800s with smoke and the odd flames and backfire, but it was just like starting four car engines in comparison.
Two false starts on a Brit engine and the ground engineer had to drain the fuel lines before having another go.