Global Aviation Magazine : 60 Years of the Hercules

[Vasco Sodcat]

A week in Belize?

A cracking thread, chaps. Time for a few dits…

February 1985. A supposedly standard Belize schedule left Lyneham on the 19th, the crew a mixed bag from 47 and LXX, captain C***s K*******d. Flag Kef for Gander, night-stop. Flag Dulles for Belize on the 20th. On arrival we were met by the Air Commodore, very unusual (was “Air Commander” his post? Can’t remember).

Air Cdre: “Go straight to the accommodation, don’t drink, don’t leave, can’t tell you any more, wait”.
Next morning:
Air Cdre: “Don’t drink, don’t leave, wait”.

This became a very repetitive procedure. After a couple of days Skipper managed to persuade His Airship to put us on 12 hr standby (joyous we were, for a fairly obvious reason ). He also got permission for the Eng and Loady to check the ‘frame once every 24 hrs, not unreasonably. Up at the camp there was a source of cheap booze (can’t remember what it was called - EFI?). Eng and Loady came back from their checks with a re-supply every day. Now the Loady was the famous J***y H***s; his room became a very well-stocked bar. To this day I remember we called it “The 109 Club” (his room number in the Fort George). The room became popular with some Canadian tourists we got friendly with.

On the sixth night we were told “Thanks chaps, pick up your schedule tomorrow morning”. We were never told why we were held there. Perhaps it had something to do with rumblings in the Turks and Caicos Islands prior to the suspension of the Constitution in 1986, or uncertainty surrounding public order in Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba getting independence from The Netherlands on the 21st? Any well-informed comments or better guesses from anyone?

VS