Not heroic Laurence, just very lucky. Fate dealt me a winning card at Saiq. My other crew member on detachment at Sharjah, a navigator, was struck down with a severe dose of squitters on the day before we were tasked for a three day Firq-Saiq lift. The Twin Pioneer needed two crew members because several vital circuit breakers were situated in the toilet at the back. As luck would have it an old friend had just been stranded in Sharjah with very sick a Venon. The other three Venoms had continued on to Singapore without him. Bill had flown with me in our Anson and Chipmunks when he was on a ground tour at Lyneham, so he jumped at the chance to act as the second crew member. The first day at Saiq was very tiring, with a two hours transit flight, eight round trips and three refuellings from four gallon flimsies filtered through chamois leather. On our last sortie up the mountain we were carrying a load of long wooden beams destined for the roof of the new fort. As usual I left the engines running with the flaps/slats set for take off while I supervised the unloading at Saiq. I soon realised the lowered port flaps were vulnerable to damage when the beams were swung round as they were unloaded by the locals, so I entered the aircraft and raised the flaps. Acceleration was normal during the take off run, but the aircraft refused to leave the ground. The end of the strip and it's boulders were approaching rapidly when Bill shouted "flaps" and moved the flap lever into the take-off detent. We scraped off the end and mushed over the cliff near Jureijah. I am sure we would have crashed had a navigator been in the right hand seat!
Last edited by brakedwell; 14th Jan 2013 at 20:17.