Fixed Cross:
I'm sorry, I really don't know when I took the Lazy M photograph. I first visited Masirah on 30.04.65 (Argosy XR139) and made my last Argosy flight out on 21.09.71 (XN852). A quick trip through my log books tells me that I visited the Jewel of Arabia no less than 93 times!
I next visited on 30.09.72 (Belfast XR368) and after another 19 visits finally said goodbye to the place on 18.04.76 (XR369 Masirah - Athens).
I have looked in Colin Richardson's history of Masirah this morning and came up with:
1971
"A donkey fence was erected around the airfield. This was long overdue. It was quite ridiculous that the RAF Police had had to round up stray animals before it was safe for aircraft to land or take-off at what was now a major staging post. At night it had not been easy to see whether stray animals had returned to the airfield".
"The donkey fence caused a little extra difficulty for the Masirah State Railway because a gate in the fence had to be opened and closed on every journey. The MPBW warned that if the gate was ever left open or damaged the railway track would be cut".
My guess is that I took the Lazy M photograph in 1971. My further guess is that the Lazy M was built at the same time as the donkey fence and was possibly a replacement for the OK Coral (which I don't really remember)?