Firq Valetta
Jock, when I first saw the remains of the Valetta in August 1959 a witness to the accident told me it ran over a land mine. A common occurrence in those days, not only on the Firq strips, but also along the road to the Northern Frontier camp at Nizwa. Being a coward who valued his crown jewels I always flew the Tin Pin to the 300 yd strip inside the camp at the end of the day, if we were forced to night stop at the bottom of the Jebel. Saiq was a much nicer option, although officially we were not allowed to shut down engines up there in case they failed to start again. The NFR Major in charge was a very hospitable ex SAS veteran called John Cooper, who was David Stirling's driver in North Africa during WW2. I will always remember the cold beer, wild strawberries and tales of daring do in the deserts of N Africa and the jungles of Malaya.