The aircraft was being taxied from the dispersal to the holding point in preparation for departure for a local flight when the pilot heard two loud bangs from the area of the nose wheel. The pilot contacted ATC on the radio and requested them to look for damage or anything abnormal. ATC reported that a ‘panel’ appeared to be loose so the pilot returned the aircraft to dispersal and shut down the engine. Examination by the operator’s aircraft engineer found that the rear support of the nose landing gear (NLG) spring had come away from its rear fuselage mounting point and had dislodged the composite fairing that was fitted immediately below the spring and its supports. Examination of the four bolts that attach the NLG rear spring support to the fuselage has shown that one bolt failed due to fatigue and the remaining three were pulled from their anchor nuts causing the bolt threads to strip. The fatigue crack initiated at multiple origins in the end thread at one side of the bolt indicating that it was due to bending fatigue. From the geometry of the NLG it can be seen that towing the aircraft by the nose wheel increases the forward load on the NLG rear spring support. A sudden start, jerk or attempt to start towing with the parking brake on or wheel chocks in place could substantially increase the forward loads on the rear support attachment bolts. Therefore, any of these reasons could be the cause of the forward hole elongation seen in the fuselage structure.