Don't know about the BUFF but on the C-21, a guy in the cockpit was enough to keep it on the nose wheel and having a break rider in the seat was protocol anytime a plane was being towed to prevent any runaway and our Maintenance personnel were top rate.

Guys sitting in the cockpit don't always work out.  During the war there was a B-52 backing out of the wash rack  and another leaving a hanger after some reapirs.  Who ever was at fault both aircraft were seriously damaged when the tail of one "D" model went into the nose of the other "D' model effectively putting both out of service for some time.

Not long after that a B-52 was being taken back to the reventment area to prep for its next mission when the aircraft broke free of its tug and went rolling across the flightline eventually sticking its nose into the wide depression near the taxiway.  Nobody was in the aircraft at the time.

Shortly after that our squadron was given a briefing on the bomber tactics that we never knew about, seeing that we were only Security Police.  One thing this officer from S.A.C. did say was with the maint. people we had at the moment, who needed needed the guys outside the fence for trouble?  Not exactly a glowing review for aircraft maintennance.

If they'd just bolted the thing down by driving a giant screw though the tarmac into the nose wheel they wouldn't need nose weight...

I used to work contract maintenance for the air force on the C-21A (Lear 35A). When we would put a full load of fuel of the aircraft (including the aft bladder tanks), you could literally lift the nose wheel off the ground with little effort. When towing the aircraft, we had to have a person in the pilot seat to be sure it didn't tip. We normally had a person in the cockpit anyhow to act as a brake rider in case the tow bar came unhooked.

Line mech on the radio to maintenance control: “Yeah, we’re gonna need several more rolls of speed tape out here”

“Rog”

I saw something similar but worse back in my AF days.  I saw it the next morning but  didn't see it happen.  Sitting on the ramp was a Convair T-29 with its nosegear still touching- but so was the tailskid!  The pilot flared way too high and it dropped hard.  The fuselage collapsed just aft of the wing. 

One day walking onto the flight line I see one of our A-10s with it's nose in the air and the crew chief trying to lasso the gun barrell to pull it back down.

Seems a mainwheel tire needed changing but instead of using a wheel jack he used a wing jack and when another crew walked back between the engines to take an oil sample, up it went !

Never a dull day on the flight line.

That must have fired up USC......they cleaned house on WSU.

Can you inagine being the one responsible for that?

At Dover A.F.B. in 1973 we had a Saturn C-130 loading a C-5 engine from a K-loader when suddenly the tail came downonto the engine and loader, causing some serious damage.  From what I heard from the patrol that did the investigation, the loadmaster did not put the brace they called the stool under the tail ramp.  As soon as the tail ramp started getting the weight, the tail came down.  Fortunately the guys pushing the engine weren't hurt, but it was close.

keavdog

Embedded the image for you

DOH! Thanks for catching that John. I went back and fixed the original post as well.

That's pretty wild!  I see a diorama there.  Embedded the image for you

Found the story here: https://www.khq.com/news/plane-carrying-usc-football-team-to-pullman-tips-onto-back-wheels-on-runway/article_f73777e6-18c1-11ec-8757-8fae2d95dace.html