Masirah.

[brakedwell]

I must have done at least two dozen RSM's during my time on 105 in Aden in 1964/6. ISTR the permanent members of the officers mess were never particularly friendly during our night stop. The scheduled arrival time of the thrice weekly RSM Argosy was around 1300 and by the time we secured the aircraft, changed into KD and reached the mess there was usually only time for one beer before the bar Closed at 13.30. After a series of slightly delayed arrivals, when we arrived in the mess shortly after closing time, we managed to depart from Khormaksar about twenty minutes early. The Ryan stop went very smoothly and we departed almost an hour early. More time was made up on the Salalah turnround and we headed for Masirah at max cruise speed with an ETA 30 minutes before the bar opened at 12.30. That was going to p*ss of the city fathers!
A high speed descent and a fast low level approach would keep ATC on their toes, or so we thought. We crossed a small headland on the south east side of the island at 200 feet and saw a submarine on surface sitting about a hundred yards off the beach. As I climbed to make VHF contact with Masirah in a tight turn over the submarine it dived and sat on the sandy bottom in crystal clear water. Masirah told us to keep the submarine in sight, they were scrambling a Shackleton from Aden. A bit pointless as it would take six hours to reach Masirah. We orbited above the submarine for over an hour before low fuel forced us to land, five minutes after the bar had closed!!!
We learned later that RAF police landrovers on perimeter patrols had been shot at on several nights a few weeks after the incident and Baghdad radio had reported freedom fighters on Masirah had retaliated against the British occupiers. The powers that be in Steamer Point were convinced the submarine had supplied small arms to a disgruntled group of Omanis on Masirah. None of my crew were ex kipper fleet, so all submarines looked alike, but it could have been doing Iraq's dirty work.