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Old 16th Apr 2016, 19:57
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Warmtoast
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Continued Part 7


Air Marshal the Earl of Bandon the C-in-C Far East Air Force made his first visit to Gan in May 1958. He’d been appointed C-in-C FEAF on 13th July 1957.

An inspirational leader he was a good listener and never one for ‘officialdom’ and in the evening visited us in the Mess for a beer. He insisted on talking to us without other officers being present and asked what, if any, complaints we had. The main one raised was “why were Gan personnel were not being permitted to take advantage of the R & R indulgence flights to Singapore as laid down in R.A.F. (FEAF) Orders?” Personnel in Ceylon could do so, but those stationed at Gan seemed to have been overlooked.

He said he’d look into the matter on his return. He was PDQ because about two weeks later our complaints were answered and indulgence flights to Ceylon and onwards to Singapore were available and I was one of the many who took advantage of the flights once I’d served the necessary six-months at Gan.

He also insisted on visiting us in our various sections to see how we worked, which included a morning with the Marine Craft unit travelling out to the cargo ships at anchor in the lagoon to study close-up how the MCU coped with off-loading sometimes awkward loads from the vessels.

With this sort of attitude the C-in-C was regarded with a great deal of affection by the men under his command. He was commonly known as “The Abandoned Earl”, or if you really knew him well as “Paddy”.

On another occasion as C-in-C FEAF he opened a new service swimming pool by jumping in fully clothed to declare it open!



Wing Commander Kent, Commanding Officer RAF Gan, is shown here greeting the C-in-C Far East Air Force, Air Marshal the Earl of Bandon on his first visit to Gan in May 1958.

Wg. Cdr Kent took over from Squadron Leader Roy Schofield as commanding officer of R.A.F. Gan in early 1958.



The C-in-C inspects the ground crew (under the command of Sgt Henry Moon) on his arrival.


The C-in-C meets his men over a beer. A good listener and never one for ‘officialdom’ he sorted out PDQ complaints that Gan personnel were not being allowed to take leave flights to Singapore as allowed by FEAF Orders.




About this time the Marine Craft Unit took delivery of a new pinnace — ideal for trips to Villingili (below).






Meteorological Assistant with his balloon for measuring upper winds. It was once tracked to 20,000ft by the theodolite shown below.


About the middle of the year a professional air traffic controller was posted in and in consequence R.A.F. Gan needed its own meteorological assistant who took hourly weather readings and measured the strength and direction of upper winds twice daily with a hydrogen-filled balloon which was tracked with the aid of the theodolite shown.
The readings were passed regularly to the regional weather centre at RAF Katunayake (Negombo) in Sri Lanka for incorporation in their weather forecasts.









The aircraft servicing staff were in the habit of defacing the Valettas once they'd reached a significant milestone in the number of flights flown into the island. As seen here they commemorated the 200th and 300th flights appropriately.


WILDLIFE


Only a few species come to mind: Fairy Terns are delightful delicate birds, but numbers declined as the trees were destroyed. Similarly with Flying Foxes (Fruit Bats), both species moved away to other islands as their Gan habitat was destroyed. The only other creatures of note were Palm Beetles — Rhinoceros beetles we called them because of the prominent protuberance on its head that resembled the horn of a rhinoceros. They were nocturnal and attracted to bright lights and the first one knew of their presence was when they thumped into a light bulb and came crashing down — reputedly their mandibles could give a painful nip if your finger touched them, so we treated them with some respect and kept our fingers away from their head if we picked them up.
Land crabs was another creature that infested the island, they looked like marine hermit crabs, but scuttling around and thriving on scraps they found on dry land.
Finally the lagoon teemed with fish of all sorts, from sharks, moray eels down to colourful butterfly fish, but these could only be appreciated when one went swimming with a mask over the coral.



Fairy Terns lay their eggs on the branches of a tree — no nest!



Chicks are dowdy to start with as seen here, but soon develop the beautiful white plumage which makes them such a delight as they flew among the palm trees.






Fruit bats (Flying foxes). They were everywhere, flapping amongst the palms.



Palm Beetles — Rhinoceros beetle. Large nocturnal beetles (2-3 ins long), and attracted to bright lights. The first one knew of their presence was when they thumped into a light bulb and came crashing down — reputedly their mandibles could give a painful nip if your finger touched them, so we treated them with some respect and kept our fingers away from their head if we picked them up.

Last edited by Warmtoast; 16th Apr 2016 at 21:07.
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