I have many fond memories of Gan after eight years on 99 Sqn Britannias. I was slipping in Gan when it became the Cape Canaveral of the Indian Ocean in the late sixties. British Aerospace, or whatever it was called then, set up shop on the south side of the runway. It was sort of hush hush and we were not welcome in the area, but ISTR there was only one rocket, about 20/30 feet long, mounted on a mobile launch pad, called Blue something, It was Great Britain's contribution to the International Meteorological Year when measuring probes would be launched simultaneously from various points on the globe to collect met data from the edge of space. Blast off was a planned for 1800 local and the countdown was going to relayed over the tannoy system, so the VC10 and Britannia slip crews, armed with an ample supply of beer set up camp outside the Blue Spitoon to watch the firework display. At 1755 the countdown stopped and we waited with bated breath. One hour and several beers later the countdown resumed. The launch was impressive as the bright flame from the rocket disappeared into the clear night sky.
Impressed and feeling quite proud, we all returned to the crew bar to continue with what we were doing before the launch. Around ten-o-clock the Tannoy crackled into life and announced: Due to a technical fault the descent parachute system failed to deploy and our rocket crashed into the ocean 50 miles east of Mauritius with the loss of all data. We were still impressed, but not so proud!
Maldivian workers boats with the Marine Craft Shed in the background ca. 1967/70
Various lighters and Marine Craft
Over twenty years later the airport ramp at Male felt exactly like Gan
