I like this.
I have clicked accordingly. I also believe the story, simply because my maths teachers have all been strange and interesting people. I realise that there is no logic here.
(ThomsonsPier consumes, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 9:34, 2 replies)

one of my maths teachers was a civil engineer
a bell-ringer and a morris dancer....

he had large nostrils which looked like torpedo tubes.

We used to call him Red October...
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 10:12, closed)

Good story...
...but almost certainly made up. The tow ropes on those things are long, really long (as in 3 or 4 km), so that the towing aircraft can be well out of range before the shooting starts. When it goes wrong it is because the shooting starts early, not because they are aiming in the wrong direction.

Still, what are teachers for if not for telling tall stories to impressionable youths?
(silene, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 14:42, closed)

I was suspicious too
But if you met the man, you probably wouldn't be. He's really not imaginitive enough to make stuff like this up.

P.S. he was getting on a bit - this would have happened in the late 60s or early 70s.
( MatJ LOOK, Tue 17 Feb 2009, 17:35, closed)