At 2FTS in 1971, Max was then newly a sergeant, a single man, and a dedicated disliker of all "Brown-baggers" - and he drove a pale-green Torana! Certainly a dedicated Armourer, but a scourge to all lesser ranks if you were a Bagger.

The "independant inspectors" were brought in about that time - Sgts and above who were expected to do random checks on post-serviced aircraft - and given cute little square rubber stamps to bung onto the EE500 after they had twiddled or fiddled with something that should have seen routine action during an A to C service. This process wasn't taken kindly to by Cpls and below who saw this as a degree of mistrust - and in some cases rightly so; I once saw a W/O deliberately and repeatedly yanking on a harness restraint webbing as hard as he could - and then he wandered off without actually stamping anything. But, I digress. Max was quite finnicky and his little rubber stamp was often seen.

As a small protest, a pencil eraser was carved into a stamp facsimile and was repeatedly put to use... everywhere! On the walls, the tea urn in the smoko room, any white-painted area, tools and toolboards, above doorknobs, smooth tarmac, ad infinitum. Max was highly incensed and spent quite a bit of time trying to nail the culprit. Never happened.

What did the stamp say?

MFD
AUU
XXX

(Try reading top to bottom.)

Vale, Max, you were a worthy comrade and adversary.
Fred Neville