Well, almost a disaster. One January afternoon, a Royal Air Force convoy carrying nuclear weapons from the Devonport naval base encountered an icy road on the home stretch of its run to the Royal Naval Armaments Depot Dean Hill. One of the load-carrying trucks skidded off the rural Wiltshire road and slid down the bank, coming to rest on its side in a farmer's field.
There ensued a massive operation - amid overnight temperatures of -12 oC - to secure the site, assess the condition of the dangerous cargo and recover the truck to the arms depot, where the weapons - a pair of WE177s - could be transferred to a drivable truck of the same type.
Once the truck had been lifted by crane back up onto the road and righted, it was towed by the convoy's recovery vehicle along the country roads, which were now lined by police.
They took this corner a bit too tightly and a bit too fast, and... jack-knifed! It took quite a bit of careful manœuvring to get under way again.
"I can't bear to look. This is not what I signed up for!"
Note the mangled mirrors and indicator stalk on the cab's nearside. Also the convoy's fire engine, which stays close to the load carriers whatever happens.
They brought quite a bit of that farmer's field with them.
Back at the factory, they're not the only vehicles to carry a farmer's field around with them