Another favourite occupation for me was to go gliding at the Aden Services Gliding Club which was based on the old WW II airfield at Sheik Othman (about 4 nms north west of Khormaksar). We had a fleet of 5 gliders which we kept in an old hangar on the south side of the airfield. Our security consisted of a pack of pi-dogs which lived in the hangar. We fed and watered them on a daily basis and they would not let the locals get anywhere near.
To get there was a bit convoluted. We would drive to the Sheik Othman roundabout, park up and then get into the back of a Bedford 4-tonner with sandbags on the floor (in case of mines). (Driving through Sheik Othman town was considered to be bloody dangerous). We would set off down the road towards Little Aden and at some point when south of the airfield, turn north across the bundu avoiding previous tyre tracks where possible. We normally had one Sterling LMG with us but it was never used. One small explosive device had gone off at the western launch point before my arrival in Aden but it didn't cause any damage.
Once out there, we were left in peace to get on with our gliding. When we used the southerly runway the kids would come out from the local village and watch. Sometimes we would take one or two them for a flight which they seemed to enjoy.
The only other use for the airfield was as a practice DZ and I can remember going over there on a couple of occasions and throwing 1-ton containers out of an Argosy.