I apologise if someone has already said this, but I did'nt spot it in a quick scan of the thread.....
I'm wondering if the photos that kicked it off were not taken at Beihan, in what was the Aden Protectorate?
I was at Ataq for about 6 months with some artillery, and recall visiting Beihan where the 2004th Airfield Construction Squadron (I may have got the title wrong) was building a strip. They had been there for about 2 years, I was told, crushing rock, laying it, grading it, compacting it, and so on. The Flight Lt in charge was, to put it mildly, a bit doolally. Came the day it was finished, and to celebrate a party of bigwigs came up from Aden in an Army Beaver, followed sedately by a Beverley to inaugurate the new strip. The Beaver landed, the Bev did a magisterial circuit or two and then, watched by the bigwigs, touched down. As it did, a ripple developed from the mainwheels, as from a boat moving nicely in calm water, leaving a corrugated surface.
"Ah well" said the Senior Bigwig to the Flt Lt, "That's you here for another 2 years. Get it right next time". And they climbed back in the Beaver and left.
The Flt Lt went off and had a bottle or two, and then attacked his fellow officers (APL etc) in the mess with a khanja during that night's film show, accusing them of causing the problem. He was invalided out later. At the time, we just tied him down.