AA62, I had two very brief visits to DG in the build up to GW1. Never was introduced to that Cat, but did see a lot of crabs. A few nights there would have been appreciated. Nice shot though, and typical of the beautiful beaches available around the Indian Ocean. I was one of two GEs tasked to a 47SF deployment to Abu Dhabi as part of the GW1 build up, and boy did it start with a bang. Lyneham, refuel Akrotiri for Abu Dhabi and our Det. Whilst we were all busy unloading the aircraft, Captain returns from ops with the "gen". We are to fly to DG, collect a submarine Captain and return him to Riyadh for a briefing. No probs skipper (we all thought) a nights sleep and we will be fit to go. No chance, the Captain pitched in with the unloading, Albert (XV205) received 62,900 lbs of go juice and off we went (flat floors). On landing at DG, a speedy refuel, on load the Sub Skipper and off we set. By now the two GE hammocks were being used on a hot bed basis, we did rig some seats but our hammocks were favoured. Meanwhile, I got to operate the galley, and sit a few hours on radio watch in the Co pilots seat, with the Captain. When we arrived at Riyadh, we were told that we could bed down on the aircraft, we were not to leave the airfield and should be ready to move at short notice, back to DG.
It transpired that the Sub involved in this had been tasked with a recce of the Kuwait beaches, they were thinking of a seaborne invasion at that point. Our bringing her Captain to Riyadh allowed a full briefing before his mission.
We got around 8 hours sleep on the aircraft at Riyadh, at that point I could have slept on the point of a dagger, and at least it wasn't vibrating as it usually did. When the Sub Captain returned, we headed back to DG and 14 hours on the ground. We were invited aboard the sub, and enjoyed a couple of beers in the wardroom. We slept like logs that night and headed back to Abu Dhabi next day. I'm sure, there are plenty of ex Hercules crew who can approximate the working/flying hours to the point of our arrival back at Abu Dhabi. Luckily, as I recall it coincided with early afternoon local time. All I heard, loud and clear was "0700 local start in the morning lads" from our Captain, some HALO lifts before starting the LL infil/exfil stuff. Sorry for the long post, it was probably the busiest three days in my life, but it does show how Albert Airways could accommodate service exigencies.
NB. I posted this tale on another thread some months ago. It included an incident that occurred during the trip which I have decided needs leaving out in these circumstances. About twenty minutes after I posted it, I had a PM from a "chap" asking me to remove it forthwith, "it might reflect badly on the aircrew", though I had offered no ID on any of my fellow participants. I removed it and heard no more. I hope that if he is reading this now, he is not preparing yet another "request to remove". What happened at the start of that detachment was bloody hard work, to keep everyone safe took some planning, and, whilst a long stint, at the start of our Det to Abu Dhabi, we really were a crew.
Smudge
