DCThumb,
That all ties in, my records show the Kigale fracas as lasting from July 31 - August 9 1994. And what an interesting
experience it was. My last year as a GE and the boss sends for me one day and says, I want you to organise an Eng Det. The job was to support a stream of frames, trucking through Akrotiri to Dar Es Salaam (DES), there to fly troops equipment and supplies to Kigale, where the Hootoo's had recently been chopping up Tootoos, or vice versa. Unusually, instead of just telling me to go book out a ranger pack, I was told to sort out the engineering requirements for a major through flow of Lynehams finest, I ask your perseverance now fellow posters, it's a story that exposes every mistake that can be made in a couple of weeks of Albert operations, at many levels.
So, the engineering side was pre ordained, 6 GEs, to accompany the aircraft in and out of Kigale from DES, and, the bonus of around 12 Lyneham Line technicians, the worlds finest, to handle the aircraft through DES. Equipment, as I requested, was agreed, with the exception of two spare mainwheels and a nose wheel set, I was told vetoed by OC Eng on weight grounds. Whilst working out what we needed, I had had a look at the situation at Kigale airport, which had experienced a large guerrilla war, and was likely to offer plenty of FOD to deal with. Anyway, OC Eng 1 - Smudge 0. Oh, just as I was getting a bit big for my Chf Tech Boots, I was told that a recently arrived young lady JENGO would be I/C the Engineering Det. My final restriction being that whilst I was to arrange the GE tasking from DES to Kigale and return, I was not to personally accompany an aircraft to Kigale, my job was on the ground at DES.
So, like DC Thumb I spent a night in the back of a packed Albert, it may have been the same aircraft, to arrive at Akronelli around 1000 local. A certain Mr M*** L***y was incumbent at the time, and invited us all to his married quarter for the afternoon. Having loaded up with Keo, we enjoyed his and Michelle's hospitality and after a kebab had an early night for departure early next day. And off we went.
The slip through DES ran well, we were accommodated in a good hotel down town, and with crews slipping through mostly being familiar faces, some good nights were enjoyed. The lads from the line worked bloody hard to try and keep the flow going, and in consultation with Captains and Engineers, my Red and Green pens were put to good use. The first problem was the very attractive young lady Officer who led us. She saw no reason why field type operations should be undertaken on this job, and I spent quite a lot of my working day arguing the toss. My opinion and experience, backed by Captains and Engineers, counted for nothing when compared to the vast knowledge she carried from Cranditz. Now, as Dougie M might say, we come to the tragic bit. As DC Thumb recalled, the whole shebang was cut short because the USAF offered to do the whole thing with those big jet things. So, I, a GE first and foremost, was not to be denied my trip to Kigale before endex, and duly disobeyed my boss and allocated myself as GE on one of the last trips. On arrival, I had a walk around the parking bay, and half filled a poly bag (usually used for water seds, if you know you know) with various shrapnel. Bullets, grenade fragments you name it, I thought OC eng might appreciate the souvineer. My return to DES was horrific, an aircraft that should have been North bound sat on the pan with the RH MLG door raised. I asked, and couldn't believe the response. Our good looking JENGO had grounded the aircraft because the RH rear tyre was worn to (not beyond) limits. She had even used the (very expensive) sat com to order Lyneham to send a spare tyre (not wheel) so that she could organise a civilian company to replace it. Total turn round time, about a week. I stopped the lads taking the wheel off and contacted the Captain of the crew due to fly this one to Akrotiri, and a tyre change. Being already delayed, the Irishman (we'll call him Tim) brought the crew to the airfield, ready to fly. He, his Eng and myself discussed the problem. It was agreed that the empty aircraft would be flown North with a green line for one flight only, intended to be Akrotiri, where the wheel would be changed. Our JENGO was full of fury as Tim, and Albert, departed northbound. Over the next couple of days we slipped the Eng det back to Lyneham as the flow reduced, leaving myself and a fellow GE to "mop up" and return home on the last aircraft. Our chariot duly arrived, and on shutdown we were a little surprised to see that the No2 witches tit had departed during the transit from Akrotiri. It only took 24 hours to have a new one delivered via a BA 747, and we were good to go as they say.
Arriving back at Lyneham, my boss the SAGE (Senior Aircraft Ground Engineer) seen in a previous photograph, posing with Dougie M in Rhodesia, informed me that I was to write an Eng detachment report for OC Eng, as our JENGO hadn't the experience to do so. In the process of writing that I also saw the funny side of it all and wrote a story which I submitted to the Globe. The young fellow known as Guy (you may remember him) duly published the report under the title Goldilocks and the Three Bears, must have been Sept/Oct 94 issue. Well, I was paying a hats on visit to OC Eng before the ink was dry, as they say. He was not amused. He had denied us spare wheels, I had failed to obey orders and remain at DES, and the young JENGO had no bloody idea what she was doing. From an engineering point of view, a real bag of worms, but, having grown up on "I learnt about flying from that", I'm sure that we all learned about supporting Albert a little better. If anyone still has a copy of the Globe with my story in it, I would love to see it again, my copy has long since disappeared. My next submission to the Globe led to a visit to the Station Commander, and not for tea and biscuits. Sorry for the long missive all, I hope it was worth the read.
Coff, thanks, nice to see plenty activity again.
Smudge
