RAF Sharjah

[navstar1]

I have put some details of my stay with 152 B Flight in Sharjah during 1966 on the 152 web site., You may recognise some names. We were still doing exactly the same tasks and had a very close relationship with the TOS.:O

[v8diesel0121]

Hi Salman,
by chance i came across this website, i have spent around 20 years in Dubai, and have always been interested in what my fellow countrymen have gotten upto in far flung places, i work in the construction industry and have worked exclusively in Dubai since about 92' for Al naboodah Contracting (i'm currently in Oman, but thats another story) when i joined, i was shown a very rusty pile of scrap metal at the back of my old workshop at kawaneej, and was told that this was to be my new plant and transport workshop which we were to build up on the hatta road at al awir. the fact is the old rusty pile of steel trusses and uprights were the old RAF hangar from sharjah airport (Al naboodah demolished the buildings their around 1990-91) instead of cutting the hangar frame up, it was transported to kawaneej to await a new life as a plant and transport workshop, this was realised around 94', we split the sections into two, building a stores and offices between the 2 "short" sections (still very big for a plant workshop!) the steel was sandblasted, primed and re-clad in new sheeting, it looked brand new!, if you travel up the Hatta road to al awir, you can see the 2 section workshop to your right hand side (the new central prison is located behind it). the steel trusses and uprights are stamped in places with "Scunthorpe 1947" if my memory serves me right (mill stamps) i know its a little bit of trivia, but i thought worthwhile relaying keep up the good work with your historical endeavours.

Martin.

[l.garey]

For those interested in a detailed history of the original Sharjah airfield and RAF Sharjah: I have just read a new book by Nicholas Stanley-Price "Imperial Outpost in the Gulf".
Excellent historical account of the establishment of the airfield in 1932 until the RAF left in 1971.
http://www.iccrom.org/eng/news_en/2012_en/field_en/03_14publicationStanley-Price.pdf.

Laurence

[captain_salman]

Thank you very much for the information Mr. Martin, I did not know this fact about the hanger steel... I will surely check them out this weekend towards Al Awir...never did notice much as I travel to Awir most of the times for official work... I presume you must have seen the RAF Sharjah in the 90s! If so, I would love to hear about what you saw it here....because this was the period (from late 80s to mid 90s) when the Mahatta area was neglected ... I could not remember much as I was a child during the mid 90s... what I could remember is there my dad used to pass King Abdul Aziz street (which was RAF's runway) and all I saw was an old faded control tower with broken windows... no display hanger was built back then...only the old fort and control tower along with the hanger (which still exists today) was there....the field was pretty much intact...with wickets and pitch marks for the asians to play Cricket there...it was a site of ruins ... and I am a history enthusiast ...just can't help recalling how this area looked like in its heyday ...:rolleyes:

[oftenflylo]

RAF Sharjah 'Gliding Club' - Coo after all these years- i find out why the T.21 (i flew) was called '404' an ex-Aden number. The Olympia 2b was BGA1036 and the K-8b c/n8797. None carried any external marks i flew with various instuctors Beck/Stockwell/Wilkinson/Carpenter/ Slater, in 1970. When the ex-kenyan wire wore out-more fence wire arrived in a Shackleton.
My then-wife started to learn and my 4 year old son was flown on her lap in the T-21. A trip to Manama wth the 'thames trader+ballon winch' towing the T-21 in a trailer.
The reason no Britannias came to Sharjah was that the runway lights were on tall stalks and might have hit the props.
Very happy times.

[brakedwell]

The reason no Britannias came to Sharjah was that the runway lights were on tall stalks and might have hit the props.

If that was the case only RAF Britannias were barred. I flew civil Britannias in and out of Sharjah from 1974 until it closed at the end of 1976 and never had any problems with lights. As far as the RAF Britannias were concerned there was no reason to use Sharjah with it's short narrow runway, but sometimes we used Masirah rather then Bahrain for transit stops/crew changes enroute to the far east and East Africa.

[oftenflylo]

It certainly applied in 1971, BCal thought of doing some trooping with Britannia and even B707- but declined. Just possible lights were changed after RAF left. The other little gem was that the lights were uni-directional and only visible on approach to R/w 30. Thus we could not be shelled from the sea!! Imperial logic

[brakedwell]

BCAL never operated Britannias. Caledonian had 4 for a short time, which were sold on or scrapped before merging with BUA in 1970 to become British Caledonian. The LCN's at (RAF) Sharjah were too low to take our DC8's, which no doubt would also apply to 707's.

[misscanada]

I served as an airman, (Admin), at RAF Sharjah from 30 Jun 70 until it's closure in Dec 71. Actually volunteered to complete extra 6 months duty there -1 year posting- as I was having such a bloody good time. Worked in SHQ in mornings and then sailed dinghys on Dubai creek at sailing club in afternoons.
It was a single posting and quite right only CO, Group Captain Cedric had wife there. Was a regular in the evenings at the gliding club and think achieved a small measure of fame for having an American girlfriend.
Through sailing club met BOAC crews and became, eventually CSD Longhaul and then aircraft dispatcher. Have many very happy memories and several photo's (somewhere) of those halcyon days.
Often used to visit the old ATC fort to meet up with a civilian ATC friend.

[pzu]

All this talk of Sharjah brings back the odd memory, I was an oily offshore Dubai - best schedule ever - 4 days on platform 2 off (noise levels) & 3 mths then 1 month UK
Used to swim at Khan Creek which was understood to be border between Dubai & Sharjah, only a few fishing boats and a Pepsi wallah
A few RAF lads used to be around - though I believe it was technically off limits due rip tide
Remember trying to acquire a 'Landie' from surplus stocks but the prices were a bit high we'd hoped for about £75 and they allegedly went for £250+
Knew a Brit/Kenyan who was in Sharjah Police, he allegedly witnessed the Abu Defence guy (ex Marine?) who lost a finger(tip) during the overthrow of the Sheik
Following RAF pullout used to visit TOS/BATT Team Sgts Mess where on guest nights they used to rip us off by upping the beer by 10% - this to make life easy for the barman - normal price was 90 fils & guest nights 1 riyal (Now Dirham) ALL in a good cause
Also after RAF pull out I managed to get Draught Beer for my apartment (Double Diamond) - this from GrayMac's - Bristow's guys did the same

PZU - Out of Africa (Retired)

[sisemen]

Was trawling through some old slides today and thought these might be of interest. All taken in 1967, ergo proof of RAF Britannias using Sharjah.

Earlier in the thread the "coast road" was mentioned. This is what used to happen when the drivers got the tides wrong!

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c92/allan907/DSC00179.jpg

Britannia route stop

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c92/allan907/DSC00177.jpg

Sharjah main street - as was!

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c92/allan907/DSC00224.jpg

[hootnroar]

hi Capt_Salman:I am interested to know the origin of the RAF Sharjah gate photo that you have published. I served there with the RAF May'69 to June'70 with 84 Squadron.

Regards

[hootnroar]

I have a photo of a BCAL Brit at RAF Sharjah taken early 70. When the hosties exited a large number of residents appeared out of nowhere just to catch s glimpse of the ladies walking down the steps. I don't remember any pax getting off.

[hootnroar]

With regards an earlier post................MMG=Men's Mission to the Gulf.

[hootnroar]

Apologies: I have just checked the photo and it was a Caledonian Brit..with hostie in kilt uniform.

[Lukeafb1]

Misscanada,

"Bloody good time"?? At Sharjah???

But does remind me of an advert for the RAF in the media in the 60s, which showed a young LAC (SAC?) packing to go on a new posting. The caption said "I'm going to Gan, the RAF's own island in the sun!". Apparently, when he actually got there, he was met by a guard of honour, who boo'd him off the flight. He didn't have a very good year by all accounts! :eek:

[brakedwell]

Apologies: I have just checked the photo and it was a Caledonian Brit..with hostie in kilt uniform.

Any chance of posting the photo, hootnroar (with 84?) I may know some of them :E

[teeteringhead]

MMG=Men's Mission to the Gulf.
.... not quite hootnroar ... well - not close really. ;)

When I was on 78 ('70 - '71), it was the Mission to Mediterranean Garrisons. Seems it's still in existence, and has been re-named Mission to Military Garrisons.

More details are here. (http://www.mmg-online.co.uk/history.htm)

Not like 84 to get something wrong ....... :rolleyes:

[hootnroar]

Your version may well be correct, but that's how the organisation was advertised to us "Moonies" on arrival in "69.

[hootnroar]

Scanner is inop at moment.................must upgrade sometime soon..........will post soonest. Must read how to post photo's here. I am mainly a "lurker" and not a regular contributor.

[misscanada]

Lukeafb1:
Believe me I enjoyed it.

[ken knight]

I was on "78" from Dec 67 - Jan 69. We did a combined excersise with the Army and Navy. The SAS arrived with their landrovers from the back of an Argosy and disappeared then the army arrived on the Caledonian ? (I thought it was a jet, probably wrong)
Lovely sight these tartan clad hosties even from the our part of the dispersal. We then embarked along with the army on the "Fearless" and "Intrepid" for a cruise through the Straits of Hormus and down the coast where we delivered the army to the base of the Wadi Sohar. They then had to fight against the SAS over to Burami Oasis. We were based at Sohar for few days and then moved to Burami before returning to Sharjah.
The hosties were never seen again.

Ken

[bob shayler]

I served in Sharjah from October 1969 - June 1970 in the Army and have many fond memories of my time there, the open air cinema, swimming in Khan Creek, the char wallah, Joe Brown and the Bruvvers putting on a show etc. but one sad memory as well of the cemetary near the swimming pool knowing that their families had only a remote chance of ever visiting the graves of their loved ones.
When I met my future wife four years later she showed me a photo of her fathers grave and I recognized it immediately as the cemetary in Sharjah. Her father died there in October 1964 when he worked for the M.O.D. as a foreman in the M.P.B.W.
We managed to visit his grave twice in 1985 and 86 when I served with the Kuwait Liaison Team and by then the cemetary was in a sad state and the camp itself was in the process of being demolished.
Over the following years it became more and more neglected until we received a communication in 2010 that the Church (St. Martins) was being extended and the cemetary was being reconfigured with all the civilians being reinturred in a mass grave with a memorial and the military graves being adopted by the C.W.G.C. Chris's father and a Captain Bramhall were to be reinterred with the Military section in new graves.
I have some photo's of the British voluteers refurbishing the Military graves but cannot attach them at the moment.
Does anyone know if the cemetary refurbishment has been completed yet,
Regards,
Bob

[bob shayler]

These are the photo's of the Team of volunteers re-furbishing the Cemetery,
Regards,
Bob

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/bobshayler/Sharjah26_zpsdb87f4ae.jpg



http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/bobshayler/Sharjah27_zpsca38a67c.jpg



http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/bobshayler/Sharjah28_zpsef8d269b.jpg

[bob shayler]

A few more,
Regards,
Bob

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/bobshayler/Sharjah23_zps84e2a128.jpg



http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/bobshayler/Sharjah24_zps6dc5cbda.jpg


http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/bobshayler/Sharjah25_zps4ef6b550.jpg

[bob shayler]

The final two photo's,
Regards,
Bob





http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/bobshayler/Sharjah21_zps0ab7a47e.jpg


http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/bobshayler/Sharjah22_zpsc2293fe9.jpg

[bob shayler]

These are three photo's that I took in 1986 when we visited the Cemetery.
Regards,
Bob

The first one is of the Cemetery and looking accross the Camp which was in the process of being demollished, the second and third the entrance to the compound where I used to work in 1969 -70, the Gulf Plant Workshop REME. We supported the Royal Engineers who frequently went down to Masirah

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/bobshayler/5f1904bc.jpg


http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/bobshayler/40e509db.jpg


http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/bobshayler/sharja12_zpsccee8a8c.jpg

[captain_salman]

May the departed souls Rest In Peace, Amen.

[bob shayler]

May the departed souls Rest In Peace, Amen.




Thank you Captain Salman. These are scans of the Cemetery as it was before the recent re-configuration which I can only assume has happened by now,
Regards,
Bob

http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/bobshayler/sharja16_zps97dfc13f.jpg




















http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/bobshayler/sharja17_zps1d4e8c20.jpg



















http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/bobshayler/sharja18_zpsd1affdff.jpg



















http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w421/bobshayler/sharja20_zps098ed345.jpg

[leesaranda]

Hi NAVSTAR, it sounds as though you might have been my replacement..... I was there in 1965 and left early in 1966.

[alisoncc]

Hi Leesaranda,

probably fixed your radios. I ran the MEC there late '65 to late '66. Air Radio Fitter at that special place RAF Sharjah. Before the Aden mob moved up and ruined it.

[leesaranda]

Hi AlisonCC,

Good to hear from you. Yup it was a special place. I didn't realise it at the time, but looking at the development that's taken place since, we were lucky to have been there, then. Getting out and about with Tom Sheppard was the icing on the cake. Were you on that long trip up the coast that he ran?

[navstar1]

You could well be right. I arrive early Jan 66 from the OCU at Odiham. Mckee was the CO based in Bahrain and looking at my log book the following pilots were at Sharjah, Mavin,Davis,Stevenson.Happy days and a great first tour:ok:

[JIBDAR]

BGA 1965 DAR has been operated for many years with the Nene Valley Gliding Club at Upwood just south of Peterborough and more recently flys with the RAFGSA 4 Counties Club at RAF Wittering. The records only go back to 2/7/1974 and show the fuselage was from RAFGSA404, the wings and tailplane were ex-BGA765. Richard Cawsey, who has a superb record of all things Slingsby confirms that BGA 1965 was ex-RAFGSA 404 believed to have been delivered to Aden in 1962 and operated by a civilian syndicate affiliated to the Aden Services Gliding Club and he suggests it was known as the "Yellow Peril". I suspect there were 3 T21's, 403,404 and the Yellow Peril. We think DAR was transfered to Sharjar and returned to the UK in 1971. We would like to clarify the a/c's history in this period and also try and establish who she was prior to 1962. Again Richard Cawsey suggests Slingsbt's works number 661 sold to Sweden in about 1951, registered SE-SHY and then sold to Finland in 1960 as OH-KSB.

Any comments that might help to ratify this a/c's history would be much appreciated. and could be rewarded by a ride in the Old Lady.

[oftenflylo]

The T21b at Sharjah came from Aden and was known as '404' but i don't think it was marked as such. It had white fuselage, yellow wings, rudder, tailplane & elevator. We knew the club as 'Gulf Services Gliding Club' but i see that my membership card has 'R.A.F. Sharjah' at the top and simply 'Gliding club' at the bottom.

[JW411]

JIBDAR:

We had two T-21s in Aden; 403 and 404. We were not strictly RAFGSA but were known as the Aden Services Gliding Club. 404 was the Yellow Peril and it was indeed all yellow. Although it was part of the fleet, I believe it was owned by Shep Shepperd who was the civilian Chief of Police in Crater.

At the end of 1966, 404 was trailered down to Khormaksar from Sheik Othman for a recover and annual overhaul (as was Swallow 400). When they were finished, we decided that the security situation was too dodgy to take them back by road so we would try to fly them back.

The date was 22 January 1967 and Stu Hoy + 1 soared 404 back to base. She was then all silver with a red stripe on the top of each wing.

404 did indeed end up at Sharjah and I did some instructing there in 1970 and I last flew 404 there on 14 February 1970. At that time it was exactly as it was when it left Aden (no yellow wings).

I have two suggestions; get on to the Aden Services Gliding site on Facebook and scroll down towards the beginning where you will find some photographs that I posted on the site including 404 at Khormaksar. You will also find Yellow Peril photographs.

My second suggestion for you is to contact Stu Hoy at Anglian Sailplanes who probably knows more about 404 than the rest of us put together!

[oftenflylo]

So - i'm guessing i flew in 404 with you!.
In Feb1970 404 made 351 launches & a total of 30hours 17 minutes airborne!
in March 1970 it made 258 launches for 22hours 17 minutes airborne culminating in a very poor arrival bouncing about 5 feet up (occupants legs seen running) and a crunch which kept it out of the air till September.

[JW411]

I was always notoriously bad about keeping my gliding logbook up to date. What I can tell you for sure is that on 14.02.70, I checked out Davies and Jones for going solo in 404.

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Well done sisemen for starting off this thread! I came across it a few weeks ago and have been slowly reading thro' the posts(It's hard to find time when one is retired!!) to catch up with what's been said.
I was a 'carpenter & joiner' in the RAF but was always a bit of an a/c enthusiast, so I have lots of colour slides & info'(I know, I know, bit of an anorak!") of visiting a/c during my time there. Also, I managed to get 6 flights in the Twin-pins(great stories Brakedwell) to Al Khatt, Buraimi, Dibba, Abu Dhabi and one with our then C.O. Sqd/Ldr Tom Sheppard who wanted to recce for an expedition up towards Jebel Raudha. I see he is a well respected author on desert travel and all things 4 X 4. Whenever there was an interesting a/c due in, there was always a race between Tom Sheppard in his Landrover, my mate SAC Derek 'Ginge' Hine(a fireman) in the fire wagon and me on my old 'sit up and beg' Indian bicycle with 28" wheels and rusty everything.......and I still beat them on the odd occassion!
'captain salman' you have certainly brought this thread to life with all of your aviation archaeology 'discoveries,' well done. I revisited with my wife back in 2000 and shortly afterwards presented the museum with a copy of the station crest(painted by Mary Dent) which I commissioned for the RAF archive at Cranwell. Also I had a large map of the TOS which should still be on the "Commanders Office" wall(would be pleased to hear that they are both there?) Both of these were collected by (Capt.) David Mackenzie of the Ruler's Flight, Sharjah when the a/c visited Gatwick. I believe he was instrumental in getting quite a few exhibits for the museum.
Better not 'rabbit' on too much! Well done:D to all of you for such interesting posts. Took me back to a most enjoyable and interesting time in my life.

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Sorry Laurence, I missed you off my first message. Meant to say how I enjoyed your 'site.' I had seen it a good while ago and was going to get in contact, but things(like memory!) got in the way. Talking of crashes near to Sharjah, there used to be a Beuafighter(?) visible at low tide at Khan Creek, and I remember coming across an a/c frame in the desert, to the north I think. No photograph, but in my 'logbook' I'm sure I wrote down a few part numbers. Will have a search for it. Regards.

[l.garey]

Thanks Saro. Please do get in touch.

Laurence

[oftenflylo]

The Beaufighter wreckage was still visible in 69/70. The wreckage to the north was i believe Wellington. Comments?

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Thanks for that OFL. If my memory seves me right, I think that only the cockpit and tops of the engine of the Beaufighter were visible? If we were out there now we would be trying to dig it out! How times have changed.
Ah, right maybe a Welington then.

Laurence will PM you.

[sisemen]

SARO - Thanks for the comment. When I posed my original question I had no idea that the thread would run for so long.

There are some good pics on this site:

SharjahRAF Mountain Rescue Photo Gallery (http://www.rafmountainrescue.com/photopost/g531-sharjah.html)

Al Henshaw being Wessex'ed outRAF Mountain Rescue Photo Gallery (http://www.rafmountainrescue.com/photopost/sharjah/p1261-al-henshaw-being-wesse.html)

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Thanks sisemen for those links. I will look forward to visiting them later on. Cheers.

[l.garey]

I have been in touch with Saroskeeterman about the crash he talks of in his post 284 on 15 December last. Oftenflylo: you mentioned it might have been a Wellington. Have you any other information about that as I would like to identify this aircraft as part of researching crashes along the Trucial Coast. Saro sent me his list of various part numbers he recorded when he found the wreck in 1966, it having crashed some 10 years earlier it seems. Saro: is it OK to publish your logbook notes here?

Laurence

[l.garey]

Saro's logbook says:

"Remains of an aircraft believed to have crashed 10 years ago by the side of the the road to Ras-al-Khaima near Umm-al-Qiwain. The following were on various bits of the airframe(not much left either)"

49606 61738/B 49623
HG116 LL269
WT

He does not know what the "bits" were, and there was apparently little identifiable. The only two numbers that could be RAF serials are HG116 and LL269. HG116 was a Warwick, but I do not know of any in service at Sharjah, and I would think 1956 was too late for them be have been in service anywhere. LL269 was not issued: it is in the middle of a Halifax batch, but not used.
So, can anyone hazard a guess? Thanks

Laurence

[brakedwell]

I would be surprised if HG116 and LL269 were serial numbers Laurence. Whatever type of aircraft it was must have crashed considerably earlier than 1956 as it would have still been common knowledge when I arrived at Sharjah in 1959.

[l.garey]

I was hoping you might show up Brakedwell. What I said was that they were the only numbers that COULD be RAF serials. I do not believe they are (from the fact that one was a Warwick and the other was not used). Probably part numbers. The date is approximate. I simply quoted from Saro's notebook.
I can find no civil crash that would fit, and I have no record of any military one either. There was a Pakistani DC3 crashed in 1953 soon after takeoff from Sharjah (being flown by the co-pilot in the left seat at night without instrument skills, it seems). (Sound familiar?)

By the way, was there an airfield in the 1950s at the site of the present Umm al Quain airfield, a bit north of Sharjah, but not as far north as Ras Al Khaimah?

Cheers

Laurence

[brakedwell]

Between 1959 and 1961 there were no paved roads in the Trucial States, so there was very little habitation along the NE coast. The TOS camp at Al Khatt was the only recognised strip northeast of Sharjah that I know of at that time. I did land near Ras al Khaimah village once, on a flat area a couple of miles inland. I'm sure there were no marking. We were delivering half a dozen TOS officers for lunch with a Dutch couple who had just started a horticultural experiment growing tomatoes and vegetables.

[alisoncc]

These were taken in 1966 on one of Tom Shephards bundu bashing trips. We went as far north along the coast as it was possible to do. Where the mountains met the sea. They were doing test drilling for oil back then. You can see how close we were to the mountains.

http://users.on.net/%7Ealisoncc/arabs2.jpg

http://users.on.net/%7Ealisoncc/arabs3.jpg

http://users.on.net/%7Ealisoncc/arabs.jpg

PS. Remember partaking of the Dutch couple's largess with fresh salads and fruit en-route. But can't remember how far up they were.

.

[lauriebe]

I have been trawling through an Air-Britain book; "Broken Wings" by Jim Halley. I first looked at 1956 and drew a blank. I then widened the search to cover 1953 - 1965. Again, nothing which tied in with the descriptions.

This afternoon, I started back from 1952. The only item which comes remotely close is an entry for 21 Sep 45. This has a Wellington GR 13, HZ976, of 294 Sqn coming to grief with the location shown as Sharjah, Trucial States. The entry in the book records an engine cutting on take-off with the aircraft swinging and the undercarriage being raised to stop. Close but probably unlikely to be the wreckage in question.

I tried to cross refer that entry to Colin Cummings book 'The Price of Peace' to see if more info might be available. Unfortunately, I cannot find a corresponding entry for that date or aircraft.

[l.garey]

Thanks lauriebe. It could be, although it's a bit earlier than Saro first thought. But it IS a Wellington. It might be worth looking at 294's records at the National Archives.

Laurence

[lauriebe]

Laurence, it is the only Wellington loss that I can find recorded in that geographical area. However, the details seem to indicate a loss on the airfield rather than in the bondou.

Interesting to note that the serial HG116 was allocated to an ASR version of the Warwick. Examples of this version were on the strength of 294 Sqn, alongside the Wellingtons, until early 1946 it seems. However, I can find no record of an accident involving that aircraft.

[l.garey]

Thanks lauriebe. As I said earlier about the Warwick, 1956 would be too late for one crashing, but maybe ten years earlier than that ...
The other Wellington crash I have researched was that of HX748 in 1943, but not near Sharjah, although having departed from there, and returning in an emergency:
https://sites.google.com/site/lgarey/raf-wellington-crash-dhadnah-1943

Laurence

[teeteringhead]

HG116 was a Warwick, but I do not know of any in service at Sharjah, ... not Sharjah based per se, but Halley (Sqns of the RAF - 1980) has the following on 294 Sqn:
In November 1944 Warwicks supplemented the Wellington and in addition to ASR missions, the Sqn also flew anti-submarine patrols. In June 1945, No 294 moved to Basra and [B]supplied detachments for the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea areas until disbanded on 8 April 1946. ... so possibly an ASR detachment at Sharjah? Will check Stanley-Price over the weekend.

[lauriebe]

Teeteringhead, Jefford's book 'RAF Squadrons', shows 294's dets from Basra as Sharjah, Masirah and Muharraq until disbanding in Apr 46.

[l.garey]

teeteringhead: "Will check Stanley-Price over the weekend."

Stanley-Price refers to 294 on page 98: "as of November 1945 a detachment of No.294 Squadron for air-sea rescue duties was the only RAF presence at Sharjah." He cites 294 being disbanded in April 1946.

Colin Richardson in his book on Masirah (pp148-9) mentions 294's Warwick and Wellington (one of each it seems). Both were unserviceable a lot, so I wonder if Saro's wreck just could be the Warwick, and the dates are earlier than at first suspected. A long shot, though.

Laurence

[lauriebe]

Laurence, have just downloaded and am reading through the F540 of 294 Sqn for the period of the Sharjah det.

The Wellington that I mentioned in my earlier post was HZ976/G and the accident occurred whilst taking off from the airfield at Sharjah, with the aircraft coming down just off the field. So that one can be discounted.

The squadron was operating three aircraft types at the time; Walrus, Warwick and Wellington. Some Warwick serials are given in the ORB but not HG116.

Still reading.

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Hello Brakedwell. I can add a little bit more to your post 294 about the couple who had started growing vegetables at Al Khatt. By 1966 at least there was a regular weekly(?) flight to a strip(still no roads) near there, to collect veg' for use in the 'cookhouses' at Sharjah. All I knew about the place was that it was 'an experiment' to see if they could continue to grow crops there. Obviously they were still making a good job of it, five years after your time. On a flight there as a PAX(11.3.66) I took some colour slides of XM959 on the strip being loaded with the produce from a trailer being towed by a dark blue Fordson tractor, pretty modern equipment eh! Can't remember how far the strip was from the 'farm' but it couldn't have been too far(same T.O. Scouts strip as as been mentioned in the thread?) I have an aerial photo of a compound with rows of crops in it, which may have been taken as we were approaching the strip.
I have a question to ask you too. On another of my PAX flights(this time in XM291 on27.4.66) In my logbook I note that we "flew to Dibba and return, via Al Khatt(approach) landed at a strip near Ras-al-Khaima(a road by all appearences") On the way back we overflew the following strips, Khiba(is that right?) Masafi and Manama. I have a photo of Masafi which appears to have a ravine at one end and a steep slope at the other and has moutainous terrain all around. Indeed I noted that it was "300yds, no undershoot, no overshoot." Did you ever land there? Also, I know the TwinPin could get in on unprepared landing sites but how many "official strips" do you think there were in the T.O. States/Oman?

Navstar1, were you the nav' on either of these two trips?

[lauriebe]

Have now been able to read through the 294 Sqn ORB which includes the Sharjah detachment. The first aircraft from 294 arrived at Sharjah on 17 July 1945 and the detachment was declared operational two days later. It had examples of all three types of aircraft (Walrus, Warwick and Wellington) that 294 operated on it. The detachment was withdrawn on the squadron's disbandment in April 1946.

The only loss recorded is to Wellington HZ976/G which I mentioned above. The only other loss near that area recorded in the ORB involved a USAAF C46 en-route Jask to Abadan. This aircraft was reported missing on 27 July 1945. Wreckage was sighted by a DC3 on 29 July 1945 and a Walrus aircraft from 294 was sent to the area to guide a road convoy to the site.

The ORB records the location of that wreckage as a bearing/range from Sharjah. It is given as 160 Sharjah, 20 nm. The serial number of the C46 is shown as 7353. No other details are recorded other than there were no survivors.

I think that location is well away from the position of the wreckage seen by SARO.

[l.garey]

Saro: I'll contact you privately with some recent photos of the Masafi strip, which still exists.

Laurence

[brakedwell]

I wonder if the parts came from a Gulf Aviation/Kalinga Airlines DC3 inbound from Doha, which crashed somewhere east of Sharjah on 7th July 1960. The wreckage was not found until several years later. Maybe a traveller came across it earlier, picked up some some small bits of wreckage, thought better of it and discarded them nearer the coast.

ASN Aircraft accident Douglas C-47-DL VT-DGS Sharjah (http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19600710-0)

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Thankyou Laurence for the Masafi photo's. Where did all that 'urban sprawl' appear from? Cut the bushes down, still usable eh?
Brakedwell may have a point about the frame being transported from it's original location? I think I'm right in saying that the Dakota is of all monocoque construction so it doesn't appear to be from that a/c or one of similar construction.

[brakedwell]

SAROSKEETERMAN
I flew XM291 and XM959 when I was on 152 in 1959/61. They must have been a bit clapped out!
Manama and Al Khatt were the only established strips I remember east and north of Sharjah, both were integrated into tented TOS camps. However, I did land on a lot of unmarked landing grounds despite being discouraged by the powers that. The most memorable was in the mountains of the Musandam Peninsular, which I described in post 120, however that was authorised by HQPG.

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Just had a re-read of your post 120 Brakedwell. Fascinating stuff and to have the photo's to go with it. Super.
You would know more than most about the superb slow flying qualities of the TwinPin. Here's another note from one of my diary's from 15.6.61 at St. Athan when I was a 'Boy Entrant.' "XN321(dayglo) Tannoy tests - one & a half hours." What I didn't note down, was that the wind was as usual blowing a good westerly and it spent most of that time stationary above our billets on East Camp!

[l.garey]

Saro: Apart from Masafi there are still quite a few landing strips to be seen around the Sharjah area, including the one up on the Saiq plateau in Oman at 2000m. We might rename it "Brakedwell International". We walked to it in 2008. There is also one at Sumaini (now also in Oman), and one with two runways arranged in a T (visible on Google Earth at 23 01N, 55E) (we were visiting the confluence at 23N, 55E when we explored it). I have photos of all these, any of which could be used tomorrow (except maybe Saiq), they are so well preserved. At Sumaini the name SUMAINI in white can also still be seen on GE at 24 39 08N, 55 53 46E.
Some of this was discussed in the old threads http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/288546-sharjah-old-airport.html and
http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/288741-airfields-uae-oman.html

Laurence

[brakedwell]

What I didn't note down, was that the wind was as usual blowing a good westerly and it spent most of that time stationary above our billets on East Camp!

Saro: I had a similar experience in Bahrain after an IAL air traffic controller challenged me to fly backwards down the length of runway 30. I waited until a steady "Shamal" was blowing before I took up the challenge. We took off on RWY 30, reaching 500 feet over the upwind end of the runway, then I dropped the flaps and slats and reduced the speed to 40kts. Very slowly, the Tin Pin crept backwards down the runway. Unfortunately I had to abandon the exercise when an inbound BOAC Comet joined the circuit. Another five minutes and I would have would won a crate of Becks!.

[leesaranda]

Yes Brakedwell, I recall glancing out the side of our Twin Pin as we were on a short landing approach to see a boy on a pedal bike passing us on the road beside the runway!

Musafi: we had an 'interesting' attempt at take-off there. Heading towards the cliff at the end of that very short strip, a rock jammed between the wheels on one side and (luckily) spun us around rather than tipping us over.... All Hail Sgt Pilot Bebbington for very quick thinking. Looking back on it, whoever designated that as a suitable landing ground was very, very optimistic.

[l.garey]

leesaranda: Are you sure you are describing Masafi? The runway as it exists today is not exactly short, nearly 1000m, and there is no cliff at the end. I think you could still fly out from there, with a bit a smart rudder work to avoid the scrub! It is just north of Masafi town at 25 21N, 56 10 50E.
Could you possibly be thinking of Saiq, where there IS a cliff and it's rather short?

Laurence

[brakedwell]

Laurence we always took off away from the rising ground at the NW end of Saiq, regardless of the wind. There used to be a very short Single Pioneer strip (300yds) inside the Sultan's Armed Forces Camp at Nizwa, where we were normally accommodated during Saiq lifts. A high cliff at one end meant you had to land towards it and take off away from it and there was no room for a go around! It needed very fine judgement, a scorching thirst and strong nerves to land a Twin Pioneer on it, but once the Imam's men started mining the five miles of dirt track between the landing strips at Firq and Nizwa it became a much more attractive proposition at the end of a hard day's flying.

[l.garey]

Heroic stuff, brakedwell!
As you know, my last hike up to Saiq was in 2008 (to pay respects to Owen Wilkinson who crashed there exactly 50 years ago to the day: his Venom is still there).
I still remember looking at that cliff on finals and thinking of you!!
Lovely place, though! Even though now it's overrun by people from Muscat going up to their weekend houses in the cool of the 2000m high plateau.

Laurence

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

If only I had seen that, Brakedwell!!(post 312) I have been catching up on your posts on other threads(video etc) all interesting stuff. Maybe if The Classic A/C Trust(ex Air Atlantique) get G-APRS/XT610/G-BCWF airworthy again, I shall have to take a flight in her for old times sake!

Laurence thanks for those links to the strips/airfields.

[brakedwell]

Not heroic Laurence, just very lucky. Fate dealt me a winning card at Saiq. My other crew member on detachment at Sharjah, a navigator, was struck down with a severe dose of squitters on the day before we were tasked for a three day Firq-Saiq lift. The Twin Pioneer needed two crew members because several vital circuit breakers were situated in the toilet at the back. As luck would have it an old friend had just been stranded in Sharjah with very sick a Venon. The other three Venoms had continued on to Singapore without him. Bill had flown with me in our Anson and Chipmunks when he was on a ground tour at Lyneham, so he jumped at the chance to act as the second crew member. The first day at Saiq was very tiring, with a two hours transit flight, eight round trips and three refuellings from four gallon flimsies filtered through chamois leather. On our last sortie up the mountain we were carrying a load of long wooden beams destined for the roof of the new fort. As usual I left the engines running with the flaps/slats set for take off while I supervised the unloading at Saiq. I soon realised the lowered port flaps were vulnerable to damage when the beams were swung round as they were unloaded by the locals, so I entered the aircraft and raised the flaps. Acceleration was normal during the take off run, but the aircraft refused to leave the ground. The end of the strip and it's boulders were approaching rapidly when Bill shouted "flaps" and moved the flap lever into the take-off detent. We scraped off the end and mushed over the cliff near Jureijah. I am sure we would have crashed had a navigator been in the right hand seat!

[leesaranda]

No I recall it being Masafi, but it was 50 years ago! The actual strip was in a narrow rocky valley on a very rocky terrace cut by a meander loop which created the drops at either end. The strip was very short and the approach was down one narrow valley and a quick turn into the valley where the strip was. I'm not confusing it with Seiq which was much better. We used this one very rarely indeed.

[brakedwell]

The Masafi strip didn't exist in 59/61. I think you may have landed on the new Saiq runway, which must have opened in 1962 or 1963 and was long enough to take Beverleys and maybe Argosies. The original Saiq strip was only 550yds long and at 6000 feet ASL altitude and turbulence made it a tricky place to operate into.
With roaming donkeys, rising ground and boulders at each end of the strip the makings an accident were ever present.

[fantom]

4 Firq Saiq (got the tie?).

[brakedwell]

Fraid not, I was pre-tie.:{

[leesaranda]

Nope, definitely not Seiq. It was much nastier. The strip was quite a bit north of Masafi and we called it Tayibah. Looking at the map, it was on the old Dibba to Kalba inland track. Like the Firq-Seiq task, we used to ferry stuff in from the much nicer strip at Manama - but very rarely because everything about the place was tight; the approach, the surface and the length of the strip.

[brakedwell]

Leesaranda, I think we are talking about two different strips at Saiq, the old and the new.

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Further to my post 304, I have a photo' of what I believe is Masafi airstrip, looking south? Can anyone confirm this please.
http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag32/saunders-roe/PICT0018_resizezpsbb2ef1f2_zps661148a7.jpg

[l.garey]

Here is a photo I took of the threshold of the Masafi strip in 2011. The mountains in the background could well be those in Saro's photo. However the runway is oriented about 02/20, as you can see on Google Earth at 25 20 41N, 56 10 38E. Could Saro's photo be looking more east?

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc39/apollo-fox/DSCF0031a-2_zps9a9459af.jpg

Laurence

[leesaranda]

I recognise Lawrence's photo, but not Saro's. John Davies took a nice sequence of shots of a TwinPin approaching and landing with a hill exactly like that one in the background - which I have in front of me. I've seen some of his shots earlier in this thread, is he a member?

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Thankyou LG and leesaranda for those comments. I have ' place marked' Dibba, Masafi and Manama strips(see post 304) on GE and assuming we flew direct Dibba - Masafi we would have almost certainly have parallelled the strip before heading for Sharjah. So indeed it would be looking in a more easterly direction than I assumed. We arrived back at Sharjah at 1610 if that helps with the shadows in the Wadi's/ravines. What I can't quite get my head around is that my photo' looks completely different to the current Google Earth view which appears to show a very long strip with shallow(?) wadi's, whereas my old photo' shows a short strip with what looks like rather deep ravines either side and at the N end.
And what of the other strip we flew over between Dibba and Masafi which I noted as "Khiba(?)" It doesn't come up on GE so the spelling is obviously out somewhere. I can't remember but I think I must have been listening in to the pilot & nav to get all this info.' Could the strip have been lengthened at some time or have I got a photo' of this unknown 'Khiba' strip?

[l.garey]

Saro: I sent a copy of your photo taken from the Twin Pin to a friend with whom we visited the Masafi strip a couple of years ago, and who knows the UAE and Oman very well. He says:
Yes, am sure that is the Masafi landing strip and makes sense if he was flying from Dibba to Sharjah because it looks like he was over the roadway and looking down on the strip to his left as he was flying west.
I fiddled with Google Earth and, though the proportions etc are not right, the features of the mountains and wadis are a match for those in the photograph though, because of the lighting, the scale and depth look different. But, for example, the mountain ridges beyond the landing strip match perfectly in my estimation.
Not much doubt in my mind that he photographed the strip we were looking at.

leesaranda: is it possible to post the photos you mention, or let me have copies?
Laurence

[navstar1]

Not on the March one but certainly on the 27th April great fun!!:O

[navstar1]

Do you have the message date for the photos taken by John Davis? Thanks

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Thanks LG, that looks like the place then.

navstar1 - thankyou for your post. Yes it certainly was an interesting flight, what a way to explore the area. Would have taken days by the "roads" of the time! Any thoughts on that other strip I mentioned - "Khiba?"(post 328) Obviously my spelling of it is way out!!

Here's another photo' taken on that trip.

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag32/saunders-roe/PICT0020_resisise_zpsefc8f1f3.jpg

[navstar1]

Great picture.Good to see the TOS.Looks like the skipper is still in the cockpit. Looking at my log book many weekly flights Sharjah-Al Khatt-Sharjah on the veg run. I seem to remember fantastic quality. I can find no reference to the other strip only one named Kalba which we visited many times in conjunction with Dibba.:O

[brakedwell]

XM 291 looks in remarkably good nick considering it arrived on 152 Sqn in the middle of September 1960, I flew it for the first time on the 26th: Sharjah - Buraimi-Sharjah and over the next two weeks did 47 more flights in it!

This photo of XM 939 was taken at Al Khatt in 1960.

[Capot]

Does anyone know why the aircraft number is that way round? It seems rather strange to me.....

[l.garey]

It was along the leading edge on one side, along the trailing edge on the other.

Laurence

[leesaranda]

Sure Laurence, give me a couple of days to get to a scanner..... its a long weekend here.

[leesaranda]

Navstar: the photo of a TwinPin landing with airport fort at the back in post 100 is one of John's. The others are not.

[navstar1]

Very many thanks. I did very many flights with him during 1966 if it is the same JD. A very smooth cool operator which was good as I was a very young navigator:ok:

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Thanks for that 'navstar.' I had alook on GE and see it is quite a distance from Dibba or Masafi. I see I have the flying time, Dibba - Sharjah as 45min, so I think this would have ruled out a flyover of the strip and of course I didn't see any coast after leaving Dibba. Perhaps I misheard the chatter on the intercom. If you want a full size copy of XM291 at Dibba please PM me. I have "Flt/Lt Davies" down as the pilot for the flight to Al Khatt below! I assume that is the 'JD' who you are talking about?

'brakedwell,' here is my photo of XM 959 at Al Khatt - 6 years later than yours on 11.3.66 - Can't beat B & W for capturing the atmosphere, eh.
http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag32/saunders-roe/PICT0019_resize_zpsf906233b.jpg
Also a photo of what I believe to be the vegetable farm seen on approach to the strip. It was the only bit of greenery for miles around!
http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag32/saunders-roe/PICT0027_resize_zpsa6150b1e.jpg

Finally, did 'capot' mean that the serial appeared to be upside down on brakedwell's photo of XM959. Officially of course it's only readable on the stbd wing as it's approaching and the port wing when flying away......but I have known them to get it wrong on occasions!!

[Capot]

I did mean that.......we live and learn about reading the number coming and going. But in this case it seems to me that it doesn't work in either direction, unless you're lying on the ground!

[leesaranda]

That morning vegetable run was a delight! They used to pick the veg at first light and bring it to the strip before the sun got too hot. I've never tasted better tomatoes.........

[navstar1]

Agreed they were the best:ok:

[brakedwell]

Fresh food was always scarce at RAF Sharjah in my day. I used to buy a hundred or so fresh eggs in Nizwa and donate them to the Officers Mess in return for at least two nights of free beer for the Tin Pin crew! The local eggs were small but they tasted so much better than the standard issue cellulose coated horrors from Australia.

[navstar1]

The food was very much improved in 1966 mainly due to the efforts of the farm at Al Khatt. I seem to remember excellent fresh salads. Cannot remember the eggs!

[brakedwell]

Cannot remember the eggs!

You most surely would if you had tasted them navstar! They had the flavour of model aircraft dope crossed with sulphur. The alternative was powdered egg, which wasn't too bad when doused in tabasco sauce!

[navstar1]

Sounds delicious! The only way to start the day:eek:

[Farrell]

They've named water after the area now.....

http://supermart.ae/product_images/u/975/Masafi_6_in_1.5__44514_zoom.jpg

There is also Tanuf water....just a bit further along by Jebel Shams.

[l.garey]

And this is what the old village of Tanuf looks like now, after the 1958 Jebel Akhdar "war", much of it conducted from Sharjah.

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc39/apollo-fox/tanuf_zps91413667.jpg

Laurence

[Farrell]

There are still some very large fragments to be found around Tanuf. Big ones!

[fantom]

We (1970) decided the eggs were injected with ether to improve their shelf-life.

[brakedwell]

Several forts in that area were badly damaged during the conflict in 1958. We flew over one of them in this video taken during the course of several Firq - Saiq lifts between 1959 and 1961.

YouTube (http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=aq39EiUvvL8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Daq39EiUvvL8)

[Farrell]

Marvellous videos, brakedwell.

Just showed them to the local lads here in Muscat. Mesmorized!

Most here under the age of 30 has no idea what the place was like before Sultan Qaboos began to sort things out for them.

[Capot]

Been doing a clear out.......here's part of a map of Abu Dhabi/NW Oman dated 1962....the uncompleted word in the SEcorner is "Airstrips".

No particular reason; I thought one or two might be interested. I've also got a bedsheet of a 1:250,000 map of the whole Trucial States, now the UAE, but that's relatively modern, 1970 or so. And another of the Liwa Hollows, hand-drawn black and white with every single hollow and dune crest meticulously drawn; many are named. There are several 100 hollows, I think, I haven't counted. It's dated 1963 and is 1:100,000 scale.

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff141/picshooter/BureimiOasisJPEG1962_zpsa05d47b8.jpg

[navstar1]

We certainly operated into the Liwa Hollows in 1966. I seem to remember we operated on a back bearing from the Abu Dhabi NDB and then used dune maps. I am not sure but I think the main strip we used in the Hollows was Humar but I could be wrong. We certainly found the dune maps very accurate. Happy days before GPS!! Great map of Baraimi:ok:

[Capot]

Here's another one that might bring back memories...Saiq in the SE corner, Rostaq at the top...the marks will be dried sweat, I think.....http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff141/picshooter/SaiqtoRostaq_zps99aade38.jpg

[l.garey]

Very nice Capot. Fits in well with some of my stuff. The oblique runway near "TWO" might be Daudi, the old Al Ain strip that brakedwell remembers, with a quick Landrover trip to cool "drinks" in Jahili Fort. Also the Oasis Hospital, the first in Al Ain. I don't see the Hamasa strip next to Buraimi fort though.
Nice.

Laurence

[l.garey]

The other one: lovely. There's Saiq, near where the 1958 Venom still lies!

Laurence

[brakedwell]

navstar1. I could have done with that dune map! There were no NDB's available in 59/61, so we had to use dead reckoning from the oil company strip at Tarif. I only failed to find Humar once when the vis was very poor in blowing sand. I always stayed with the aircraft, often on my own, while the passengers together with the nav or sig were driven to the TOS camp. I will always remember the first time I heard desert bells shortly after the sun slipped below the dunes.

[Capot]

Humar

Brakewell, I realsie that it may be a bit late to be of much use to you, but here's a very small part of the Liwa Hollows 1963 map, showing Humar. The black line is the main track, and a regular patrol route. Below it there's part of a BP map used in the early 70's, just for interest. Humar is marked, 2nd strip, counting from the West in the Liwa. Not a very good scan, I'm afraid.

I hope these pictures aren't too big!

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff141/picshooter/Humar_zpse8bf86a5.jpg


http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff141/picshooter/BPMap_zps16e0a61a.jpg

[navstar1]

Always a very good breakfast in the TOS mess on the early morning run:)

[navstar1]

Even with the back bearing and the maps we sometimes found it very difficult to find:sad:

[navstar1]

Capot. Great dune map. Am I correct in that Humar was right at the start of the hollows on the Northern edge?

[l.garey]

Liwa dunes in 2003

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc39/apollo-fox/DSCF0012a-4_zps3fc5ef23.jpg

Laurence

[Capot]

Navstar

Humar is marked on the dune map; about halfway up the picture towards the left hand side.

On the BP map, it's at about 10.00 o'clock on the top edge of the Liwa, if 12.00 o'clock is the centre of the top edge of the semi-circle. You can see the red airstrip sign, just, but the name is unreadable. It's the 2nd airstrip along the top edge, counting from the left-hand side of the picture. Incidentally, the pencilled course lines (with time or distance marks) disappearing to the NW go to Jebel Dhanna and/or Tarif. I'm not sure why there are two routes to Asab; was there a 1-way system in the '70s? It would have made sense, there was a lot of civil and military traffic between the desert strips, all low-level, often in very hazy conditions.

Re navigation in the Twin Pins; I'm sure that Bimbo Ward taught me to use a drift sight in one of those, as well as to make sure that no-one was running up and down the cabin when trying and failing to set the elevator trim. ("Tell you what, it's just you 'n me, you fly it, head for Sharjah, keep it at 3,000 ft, I'll have a zizz in the back".) Were drift sights fitted? Or is it a memory lapse?

[brakedwell]

Thanks Capot, very interesting. I can't remember seeing any tracks across the grey sand in the Humar depression. navstar1, the TOS camp was a few miles from the strip and was very basic then. We almost night stopped in Humar once when the cartridge starter system failed and I was left holding the starter knob and three feet of broken bowden cable. A landrover was despatched to the camp to collect a length of rope and a hessian sack, which was folded into a triangle, securely attached to the rope, and slipped over a prop blade before rotating it to the upper vertical position. It was dark when three TOS officers took hold of the rope and I shouted "3-2-1 RUN!" After several failed attempts the engine fired and they climbed on board for a take-off in starlight. My emergency starter system was carried on all future Sharjah detachments. Does anybody remember reloading the six shot revolving cartridge starter, which was inevitably covered in oil, too hot to handle and more often than not the OAT was over 40C?

[navstar1]

They certainly were fitted. I think by the navigator by his right hand seat or just behind the bulkhead on the right hand side. That ,the NDB and the mark one eyeball was the nav equipment on the Twin Pin!

[navstar1]

Changed it many times although we always let it cool down first! We carried the same emergency starter kit and I remember once we attached the end of the rope to a truck. Worked a treat:ok:

[Capot]

Rope-starting, with a landrover, worked a treat on the Gulf DC3s as well; the spinner appeared to be designed for the purpose, rather than using a blade. At least that's how I remember it, perhaps wrongly.

The DC3 'book' procedure uses 2 of the blade tips, 2 rubber sleeves for the tips (bits of hessian if the sleeves were left behind?), a rope and 3 athletes. The 3 TOS officers used by Brakedwell would have been athlete substitutes at best, but the engine might have been a bit easier to crank.

[Fareastdriver]

I have seen a 209 Sqn TwinPin started like that at Sepulot in Borneo.

[navstar1]

Standard practice. Much better than staying the night in the desert or the jungle!:sad:

[leesaranda]

Rather than muck around with the hot cartridge starter, hand starts were a pretty regular thing in 1965. I recall a run-up, jump to grab the prop, drop and swing, and keep on running (not into the next prop, of course!). OH&S would have a fit these days.

[brakedwell]

That sounds bloody dangerous:eek:

[leesaranda]

It was certainly 'interesting' enough to appear in my log book. On 25th Feb 1966 I've got an Al Khatt run logged with hand starts on both engines.

[bob shayler]

An ex REME Aircraft Technician posted this question about RAF Sharjah on our REME Web Site recently and I wondered if anyone can help,
Regards,
Bob


In January 1963 I was part of a crew that flew up to Sharjah from Aden to change the engine of a DH Beaver. In front of the RAF transit hut at Sharjah there was the usual manicured sand and the required white painted rocks, but I believe they had an extra feature, bulbs planted in the sand. They were of course light bulbs but I thought it was a nice touch. If anybody travelled to Sharjah around that time, do they remember seeing these bulbs or is it a figment of an old mans imagination.

Bob....Can I take you up on your offer to contact the PPRuNE sight, the hut was not a guard room just a meeting place when you got on or off a plane that is when I arrived. The person who was running the operation did not know what to do with us but we got lucky as the SWO man just wandered in he said we should be billeted in the RAF transit hut as we would be out on the strip every day. It took the engine a couple of weeks to come up from Aden. I am sure that if we were under the control of the Army they would have found lots for us to do, as it was we drank lots of Vimto and enjoyed our mini holiday.

[navstar1]

Leesaranda. we must have been there at the same time. Perhaps you could PM me to discuss

[leesaranda]

Yes, I suspect that we had a bad batch of cartridges at one stage. It was possible to go through the five remaining cartridges, reload, and use all of the next six and still not get going.

[India Four Two]

Was that the same cartridge starter used on the Chipmunk or a bigger version?

[brakedwell]

Was that the same cartridge starter used on the Chipmunk or a bigger version?

It looked the same, the 12 bore cartridges looked the same. my guess is it was the same, just much more difficult to get at.

[l.garey]

I remember the relative reliability of the the Chipmunk Coffman starter. But if the first cartridge failed to start the engine you had to wait a certain time before firing the next. There were six.
There is a thread which deals with this in detail.
Chipmunk starter question - Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums (http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=33333)

There are some photographs in post 13.

Laurence

[navstar1]

Bradwell. I seem to remember we also carried a small coin
to repair the starter if it failed. Am I correct or does my memory fail me!

[brakedwell]

Was that to open the starter access cover? I always carried a stubby screw driver in my flying suit leg pocket.

[navstar1]

Could be. After 47 years I can no longer remember! My experience with the starter was that it worked fairly well. I agree with you we would NEVER have hand started by swinging the prop that could have turned into a very bad day!

[brakedwell]

My memory isn't what it used to be too! I agree the Heath Robinson starters were relatively reliable and any starting problems were normally the result of over or under priming warm/hot engines. A broken cable only happened to me once in two years, but I can think of at least three occasions when I was unable to replace six expended cartridges due to the revolving mechanism jamming in it's mounting. On the other hand the Pembrokes, with their electric starters, never gave any trouble. IMHO the decision to fit Cartridge Starters in RAF Twin Pins was wrong as the civil Twin Pins based in Umm Said and Kuwait never had any problems with their electric starters.

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Sorry guys to interupt your great recollections of starting TwinPins(or not as the case may be!)Here I am again with two more photo's.

The first one was taken on 'base leg' from XM959 on 11.3.66 returning from the Al Khatt veg' run. What was the runway heading please?
(Duplicate photo of Dubai A/P now deleted, please see my next post for the SHJ photo'!)


This one of Dubai A/P was taken from XM289 on 31.3.66 whilst on the Jebel Raudha recce for the C.O. Tom Sheppard(one of your trips, I believe 'navstar')

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag32/saunders-roe/350ef6bc-d70c-4141-9de2-032da90dbc03_zpscc134eef.jpg

[Fokkerwokker]

Apologies for slight thread drift but my logbook tells me that on March 27th 1975 the Fleet Capt of the Gulfair VC10 fleet was one of the folk on the end of the rope as we cranked #1 into life on Beech Queenair G-AVDS after the port starter motor packed up. They had just climbed off a GF VC10 that had operated BAH-CAI-DXB and I was sent down to fly them back to BAH.

The funny thing was he was a bit of a wheel in BOAC/BA and as he was huffing and puffing, with others, a BA VC10 crew walked by with their eyes out on organ stops observing old Harry sweating in the morning heat!

I thereafter had a cabin full of snoring crew on the way back that were pitch perfect with the Lycomings!

Happy Daze

FW

PS Love this thread

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Oooops, sorry, not sure what happened there. Dare I try and find the right photo?
Is it possible to delete once they're on?(Thanks LG for the tutorial - see post 385 above)

Hopefully this will be the one of Sharjah.

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag32/saunders-roe/7d337f8d-9755-404b-b2d8-09bc94de6f28_zps961f463c.jpg

[l.garey]

Nice pictures, Saro.
Yes, you can delete a picture via the edit button.

Laurence

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Thankyou LG, I'll get up to speed one day!

[Capot]

Saro,

Re your first pic....12/30 I should think, remarkably like Dubai, and, Shirley, a little high for a base leg, even in a Twin Pin?

[brakedwell]

a little high for a base leg, even in a Twin Pin?


Should be no problem :cool:

[Capot]

Another blast from the past..... Abu Dhabi, 1971 or so? The new airport had probably just opened when this was taken.

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff141/picshooter/IMG_zpsd0d33a73.jpg

[sisemen]

It's interesting that the area around the old Dubai airport has been completely subsumed in new development and, if you didn't know the old airport, wouldn't know that it was the same place.

While in Abu Dhabi the features are still recognisable. The road layout is basically the same and the mosque and fort underneath the left roundabout are still there as is the semi-circular promenade on the coastline.

Fascinating pictures. More please! And maps!

[leesaranda]

Laurence, I promised some of John Davis' photos. Here they are. The one with the fort behind it is dated 22-4-65; offloading 2nd para at Seiq is dated 23-4-65; the approach and landing is labelled Tayibah, but it looks awfully like the background to your shot of Masafi. I haven't logged any trips to Masafi in the 14 months I was there, so I suspect we used to call it Tayibah. Its all so long ago, that I can't be certain.

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag42/leesaranda/TPampsharjahFort22-4-65_zps2f7c8dc3.jpg

Sharjah 22-4-65

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag42/leesaranda/Seiq23-4-65_zpsdaf4634c.jpg

Seiq 23-4-65

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag42/leesaranda/Tayibah1_zpsb9d738b2.jpg

Tayibah Approach 1965

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag42/leesaranda/Tayibah2-65_zps67992d81.jpg

Tayibah Landing 1965

[l.garey]

Thanks for those photos, leesarandra. Very dramatic!
Tayibah is just north of Masafi. Maybe that was its RAF name. Twin Pin XM959 crashed there in 1967.

Post revised to correct the date!

Laurence

[leesaranda]

My foggy memory puts the Tayibah strip quite a bit north of Masafi village (as does a mud-map in my logbook). It was quite a nasty strip and didn't seem to have the scope to be expanded as the current Masafi strip has been. Perhaps the replacement of the Twin Pins with helicopters meant that it dropped out of use.

Those rocks were almost a perfect size for jamming in-between the wheels. We almost came to grief a couple of times.

[l.garey]

Sorry, the crash was 1967. I shall correct the post above.
It was written off.
ASN Aircraft accident Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer CC.2 XM959 Tayibah (http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19670914-1)
I seem to remember that brakedwell referred to the crash earlier in this thread.

Laurence

[brakedwell]

You have just reminded me of another epic cock up, Laurence!

Two 152 sqn Twin Pioneers were working out of Sharjah in February 1961. I flew XM959 down to Muscat, Nizwa and back on the 11th. As the second aircraft (XM939) was not required that day the crew were enjoying a lie in. At around 10 am the Station Commander burst into the sleeping pilot's room and told him to get up immediately as XM939 had been tasked to take aerial photographs of a landing assault exercise on Sir Abu Nuair Island and that the station photographer had already been briefed. What the S/L didn't say was that he had been sitting on the tasking signal for 24 hours! By the time the TP arrived overhead Sir Abu Nuair the landing had already ended. As usual the TP pilot was unable to contact any of the RN ships, so he decided to land on a beach and seek advise from the army commander. During the landing run the port main wheels ran over an embedded rock and the aircraft swung sharply to the left, the pilot over corrected with the brakes and the aircraft ended up on it's nose. The occupants of the TP (2 crew,1 civilian IAL air traffic controller and 7 airmen on a jolly) enjoyed a boozy night on a frigate before I arrived to take them back to Sharjah the following day.

Before 939 was returned to normality!
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/152%20Squadron%20Bahrain/XM939broken_zpsd0aa4077.jpg

Back on 6 wheels.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/152%20Squadron%20Bahrain/TwinpioneerXM939wing_zpsb392230b.jpg

939 being towed to Dubai by the frigate HMS Lock Inch or Loch Fyne.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/152%20Squadron%20Bahrain/TowedTP_zps4f966cdc.jpg

Back at Sharjah before being shipped to UK
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/152%20Squadron%20Bahrain/BentTwinPin_zps342b72f4.jpg

[l.garey]

Lovely stuff brakedwell. I had seen the first of those pictures, as you know, but the others are amazing!

Laurence

[Krakatoa]

I was on 37 Squadron at Khormaksar in 1961 when I was ordered to report to the AOC's office to act as escort to a TP pilot about to receive a reprimand for bending his TP in a landing accident. After the serious stuff I was dismissed and was told later that the AOC had a friendly chat with the pilot.

[sycamore]

The coin that Navstar mentioned would be a 6d piece,as it was the same size as the starter cartridge safety disc,which occasionally `blew`.There also was an official prop turning implement,for pre-start hydraulic checks.A pole with a steel loop covered in cord ,rather like a lacrosse stick,but if you didn`t have one then they were probably in `stores`,in the UK, `just in case someone needed them....as usual..Probably still there..

[navstar1]

Spot on Sycamore! We did have the strop.Viewed it once being used to start the engine which fired and the strop disappeared at a great rate of knots into the desert. Never found and never attempted again!:E

[Capot]

Just idle speculation......did that TP with its nose punched in, on its raft, really need the towing vessel?

I was thinking of that in the pub just now, and it crossed my mind that if you fired up both engines it could have achieved quite a good speed, perhaps with some stout rope between the engine mountings, as the point of thrust, and the raft.......

Fuel? Hmmm, maybe some spare cans would be needed.

Cooling? Ah, not so easy. Multiple punkah/wallah air propulsion units?

Ah well, it was only an idea....we had to improvise a lot in those days in the Trucial States.

[sisemen]

Twin Pin XM959 crashed there in 1967.

Was that the one where it did a delicate nose over. I seem to remember that one was put back on its tailwheel and flown out. But I could be wrong - it's a long time ago.

[brakedwell]

He was a good friend of mine. Unfortunately that was his second accident on 152 Sqn as he was also involved in a Pembroke accident at Buraimi on 30th Jan 1960.
RAF Pembroke WV743 Accident - YouTube

Capot - I believe the pontoon was called a Hippo. I wonder if the Royal Navy claimed any salvage money.

[l.garey]

Back to Twin Pioneers at Sharjah.
There is still a bit of one there: in the Al Mahatta museum inside the fort is one fin and rudder of XP295 (as far as I have been able to make out from the constructors' plates still attached).
Pity there isn't a whole one there for old times' sake.

Laurence

[l.garey]

The more I think about it, the more I believe that the Tayibah strip is the same as the one I have been calling Masafi, and I illustrated earlier. The runway is longer now, and indeed there are signs that it was bulldozed (heaps of rubble still there). Maybe it was just too dangerous and short in the 1960s, so it was lengthened. There is in fact quite a lot of space around, once you have avoided the mountains! It is difficult to imagine that two runways would be built within 6km of each other.

Laurence

[brakedwell]

XP295 spent virtually all of it's service life at RAF Odiham before it was bought by Flight One at Staverton. It ended up with Air Atlantique as G-AZHJ.

[l.garey]

That's right. When the Sharjah museum was set up a few bits and pieces were acquired from Baginton, including a TP fin, ex G-AZHJ, although it is labelled G-APLW!

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc39/apollo-fox/DSCF0022.jpg

[leesaranda]

Its nice that they remember the Twin Pins in the Sharjah museum. About a third of the unscheduled trips we did evacuated locals to hospital; burns cases and difficult childbirth mostly.

The burns cases arose from the (then) common practice of 'dry cleaning' clothes in petrol (put back into the vehicle afterwards) and then sitting by the fire before they were properly 'aired'. The difficult childbirth were caused by bone inflexibility, even in quite young women. The result of drinking mineral -rich well water all their young lives. I think that it was an excess of fluoride that was the culprit. There were also a couple of wedding-related disasters where leaping over the fire whilst firing a sub-machine gun went horribly wrong...... We did a 'no-lights' night landing at Al Khatt for one of those. There was a full moon and the few white-painted rocks lining the strip showed up perfectly.

Other times, it was used as a taxi service for people with business with the Sheik. Sometimes a simple as a trip to the dentist on one of the scheduled trips. TOS used to act as a vetting agent for those.

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Well 'sizeman' your thread is set to run & run.

Excellant B & W photo's of J.D's and Brakedwell(nice video of the Pembroke too.) This certainly is a fascinating thread and with everyone's contributions it's turning out to be a definitive history of RAF Sharjah!

Here's another one of mine, it's a colour slide again! I do have some B&W ones, indeed I have in front of me 4 TwinPins flying in formation(must have been some kind of record?!) My 'Yashica Minister D' was confiscated by customs(couldn't afford to pay the duty!) at Benson when I 'indulged' home for Xmas '65 and it took ages for it to be returned to Sharjah. So I used my mates 'second' camera for a month until mine was returned from the UK.

Taken from XL996 on 7.8.65http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag32/saunders-roe/6d0c6dd9-f28d-4d20-8498-7d280e02b279_zps4f45c8b2.jpg

[leesaranda]

SAROSKEETERMAN, were the Twin Pin formation air-to-air photos from 1965 JD's also? I had them on my walls, but someone 'souvenired' them years ago. The most dramatic was an air-to-air of the formation turning, with Sharjah town in close background. If you have it, it would be nice to see.

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Leesaranda, no it is one of my own photo's and probably not worth showing as it was taken on a 'cheapy' camera. I only have an overhead shot of them, but I will scan it to see how it comes out. It must have been the same date, although I have nothing on the reverse. I'll have a look and see if I have the date in my diary.

[brakedwell]

Two flights always spring to mind, both involving the TOS at Buraimi. On the first occasion the CO at the fort asked me (unofficially) to take one of his corporals back to Sharjah to celebrate his son's first birthday. We landed in the early evening and retired to the mess. The following day rumours of a murder spread around the camp. It turned out to be true and the TOS corporal from Buraimi had commited the crime. Apparently he arrived home to find his wife being pleasured by a neighbour. In a fit of rage he set fire to the barasti hut. Both adults and his child died in the fire. At the trial he pleaded guilty and was cleared of killing his wife and her lover, but guilty of killing an innocent child. For this he was sentenced to death by burning! After considerable diplomatic pressure the Sheikh agreed to commute the death sentence and allow the corporal to serve a life sentence in a Bahrain jail.

On the second occasion we flew down to Muscat early on a Sunday morning and returned via Ibrii at lunchtime. During the climb out of Ibri the starboard engine started misfiring for several minutes before settling down again. After landing a magneto check confirmed one mag was dead and there was no spare available. The Sharjah Fete was getting under way so after a quick change we headed for the beer tent! Two hours later I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see the Stn Cdr and MO looking serious. He asked me how I felt. "Fine,"I said. "Then get down to sick quarters and drink as much coffee as you need to sober up because you have to pick up a casevac from Buraimi. The doc is going with you and will brief you in sick quarters."
The situation was serious. A Rock Cobra had bitten the TOS Squadron Sergeant Major on his middle finger as he went to hang up a hurricane lamp in his room. The doc explained that the snake bite sarum stocked at Sharjah was a mixture to cover bites from three indigenous snakes, Sand Crites, Russell's Vipers and Rock Cobras. Because of this the effectiveness was reduced. I told the MO that the aircraft was unserviceable with a magneto problem and asked him what would happen if we didn't fly to Buraimi. Without the serum he will die and he will need specialist treatment at The American Hospital in Dubai if he is still alive when we get back, was the reply. We took off very late in the afternoon and landed at Buraimi as the sun was setting. The doc injected the patient and decided not to move him until the serum took effect. Unfortunately the sergeant major deteriorated and couldn't be moved. A couple of hours later the doc decided the only hope of saving the man was to get him into hospital asap. We took off in the dark and kept climbing while both engines were running normally. At 8000 feet the lights on the coast became visible on the horizon and I was forced to throttle back as the engines were overheating. The starboard engine gave several loud bangs as it cut in and out, then stopped. We continued towards Sharjah in a shallow descent and landed without further drama. The Sergeant Major was rushed to hospital in a very bad way, but eventually made a full recovery. Unfortunately, the beer tent was closed!

[leesaranda]

Looking at my log book, it wasn't 1965 that we flew the formation, but 16th February 1966.

[l.garey]

We should not forget another excellent thread on Sharjah:
http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/288546-sharjah-old-airport.html

In 2007 I posted a note about a well-known user of Twin Pin medevac, worth repeating here.

Gertrude Dyck arrived in Al Ain in 1962. She was a Canadian nurse, who was one of the first white women in Al Ain. She worked at the local "Oasis" Hospital until 1988. As there were few doctors around, she often had to do more than nursing and was always called "Dr Latifa" by the local people. I last saw her in Al Ain in 2004, when she showed me the photo of a Twin Pioneer on a medical mission. I think it was taken at the Daudi strip, often called just "Buraimi", which was on the outskirts of modern Al Ain, and was finally bulldozed for housing 3 year ago.

Here is a photo from her book The Oasis: Al Ain Memoirs of "Doctora Latifa." Dubai: Motivate Publishing, 1995.

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc39/apollo-fox/latifa2small_zps3d67e85f.jpg

Laurence

[navstar1]

Leesaranda. You are correct I was with Snowy McKee in XM289 16:25 for 00:55 flight time down as formation:ok:

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Leesaranda & Navstar. For what it's worth here is my photo' of that formation. Quality not so good, as it was taken on that 'cheapy' camera. There are some blemishes at top L/H corner and on inspection with a magnifying glass I see that I had tried to type(unsuccessfully!) the following....."All of 152Sqd's a/c in the air, Feb. 1966." I didn't have the date in my diary(not like me!!) so thanks for info.'
XM289 is the lead a/c with what looks like XL996 behind. The two 'wingmen's serials are too 'fuzzy' to read.

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag32/saunders-roe/TwinPioneerformation_NEW_zps4965237b.jpg

[brakedwell]

Four in the air once, that must have taken a super human effort by the engineers. I can't remember more than two Tin Pins ever being serviceable at one time.

We suffered from serious flap and slat problems while I was on 152. The flaps and slats were rearranged by a complicated system of hydraulic motors, sprockets, bicycle chains and bell cranks, a system which was very vulnerable to sand ingestion. I suffered two flap failures while cleaning up after take-off. One at the start of my tour in 1959 and the other at the end while detached to Kuwait for border patrols during the stand-off with Iraq in July 1961, so they never managed to solve the problem during my time on 152 Sqn. On both occasions there was an audible crack and the flaps/slats on one wing extended fully while the other side retracted. Quickly selecting full flap cured the roll on both occasions. After the first failure we operated the Twin Pioneers with flaps and slats inoperative for several months while Scottish Aviation searched for an answer to the sand clogged mechanisms. During this time the engineers fitted wooden blocks, retained by jubilee clips, in the flap runs and wired the flap lever in the up position. Unfortunately nobody realised that the only hydraulic auto-bleed was in the flaps system! During a two week detachment with the SAS at Ibri I could feel the brakes getting spongier by the day. When the brake pedals had to pumped vigorously to obtain any pressure I decided to seek help from the Airwork engineers at Bait al Falaj. When we arrived overhead the pumping routine failed and I was forced to carry out a flapless, brakeless landing. We went off the end of the strip at a stately speed with both engines stopped, ran slowly down a shallow slope before ending up with nose poking through a hedge around Brigadier Smiley's garden. Fortunately with no damage to the aircraft. The Airwork engineers discovered the auto-bleed design flaw while they were bleeding the hydraulics and obtained clearance from Bahrain for us to continue flying. We returned to Ibri and managed to operate for another three days before returning to Sharjah with no brakes!

[navstar1]

The slat and flap problems must have been cured as we had no problems to the best of my knowledge in 1966. :ok:

[brakedwell]

Some strange structural issues occurred in two airframes at the end of 1959. When taxying over uneven surfaces, particularly at Sharjah were the sand was smooth but undulating, it was possible to hear twangs coming from the back end, similar to the noise made by twisting a large biscuit or crisp tin. After a lot of head scratching at RAF Muharraq the SEO was advised to contact Scottish Aviation at Prestwick direct. To our surprise the designer of the Twin Pioneer, Mr Bob McIntyre, turned up a few weeks later. He was a very friendly Scot who enjoyed a wee dram. We got on very well, so I volunteered to help him and spent many hours over a two day period taxying both the twanging Twin Pioneers around all sorts of obscure areas of Bahrain Airport while Bob was down the back with one ear pressed to various parts of the stripped down fuselage and floor. Every now and again we returned to dispersal and he would rivet a length of angled aluminium strip to various parts of the rear structure. Having stopped the twanging on the first aircraft the second was sorted out in no time.
Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer CCII Designer (http://www.nationalcoldwarexhibition.org/explore/aircraft-information.cfm?aircraft=Scottish%20Aviation%20Twin%20Pionee r%20CCII&topic=Designer)

[leesaranda]

Your flap problems remind me of a mod Lionel van Praag made to the ADASTRA Hudsons to 'stop you youngsters killing yourselves'. Yup, a wooden block to prevent the selection of 'full flap'. (but that's off-thread!).

Getting back on-thread: On one attempted trip to Tayibah (keeps coming up!) we were on approach down a rocky valley, and hadn't yet got sight of the strip, when a TOS Warrant Officer came up to the cockpit entry. He was dripping with hydraulic fluid and politely asked, 'is this normal', indicating a fine mist of fluid in the cabin. While speaking, he leant his hand and forearm against the door frame, popping half the circuit breakers mounted there. Luckily I spotted what was going on as Tony struggled to work out what was happening. All the time we were low level in this bl***y ravine. A few seconds later and we'd have had a nasty accident, as it was we managed to get sorted out and get back to Sharjah for a no-brakes landing.

During the trip back I went down the back to see if there was anything to be done about the hydraulic leak. But apart from being very impressed by the amount of engineering in the cabin ceiling which appeared to have been sub-contracted to Sturmey-Archer, there was little to be done with the tools we had on board.

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Those photo's of JD's(395) are great 'Leesaranda.' And 'Brakedwell,' the photo's and the story(399) of the 'bent' TP, just great. As I said before you can't beat B & W for conveying the atmosphere in a photo' - much more than colour I think. Still, that said, here's another of mine, this time one taken of XL996 at Mirfa on 3.11.65

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag32/saunders-roe/e6e80956-5de2-4e38-a7f5-cc686805e7fa_zps7202d63b.jpg

[leesaranda]

Saroskeeterman: John Eeles and I were the crew on that flight........

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Leesaranda. Well, 'tis indeed a 'small world' as the saying goes. Would you like a full size copy of it? If so PM me with your email address.

[Capot]

.......and I was attached to the Mirfa-based TOS Squadron, to improve my Arabic, from October '65 to January '66. It is indeed a small world!

[leesaranda]

One thing I recall about Mirfa was the high density of ancient pottery exposed in the scarp behind the coast. There must have been a big settlement there in ancient times. I sent a sample off to the British Museum, but they had no resources to follow that up at the time.

[l.garey]

I was working in Al Ain from 2000 to 2004 and pretty well every weekend we went trekking in the UAE/Oman desert. Two striking things were the amount of bones (animals AND human) lying around, and the amount of bits of pottery. There are even copper smelting sites from ancient times. My friend Brien, with whom we did most of our exploring, both aviation related and history related, is an expert on local ancient pottery, so I could ask his advice if you have any questions. Brien, are you there?

Laurence

[brakedwell]

leesaranda - Was Tarif, the oil company airfield down the coast west of Mirfa still operational during your time on 152?
This 8mm video was taken in August 1959 when I was being familiarised with all the strips we used. We flew from Buraimi to Mirfa at the end of video.
152 Sqn - YouTube

[JW411]

John: I visited Tarif several times with an Argosy (last visit was 01 Sep 1971 in XR141). It was a long smooth strip in those days.

Gulf were also still using it and they had a set of steps kept in the shade of the "terminal" (a tiny three-sided basha).

I believe TMA (Lebanon) used to go in there with their DC-6s.

[brakedwell]

Thanks Jock, I seem to remember Tarif was operated by the Iraq Petroleum Company. All their supplies came from Beirut in Yorks, including Watneys Red Barrel, which made it a popular night stop (when an excuse could be found)!

[JW411]

By then I am fairly sure that Tarif was owned by ADPC (Abu Dhabi Petroleum Company) Their sister company was ADMA (Abu Dhabi Marine Aereas) who operated Das Island.

PDO (Petroleum Developments Oman) were, of course, based at Azaiba and operated Fahud and several other strips such as Heima.

[leesaranda]

Yes Tarif was busy. We didn't go there often, usually only a stop-off en route to Humar. Mirfa was a much more regular stop.

I recall being struck by the range of glossy magazines in their (civilian) mess. Of course, no Playboy, but Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Queen, Tatler and so on. I foolishly asked if there were women in the mess and received a grin. I got talking to a young engineer who was making so much money that he'd already bought a very large country house outside Aberdeen, and was planning to retire at 35! Very different to our life.....

[brakedwell]

IPC were just prospecting for oil then. They did tell me oil had been found, but that promising wells were going to be capped for later use. Which reminds me of another adventure. .

We completed a five day Firq-Saiq airlift and decided to spend the last night with Major John Cooper at Saiq. During the night a signal arrived from RAFPG in Bahrain advising us that Sharjah airfield was flooded and we were to return to Bahrain via Tarif, the only other airfield in the Trucial States with fuel. The following morning we flew down to Firq and topped up to 120 gallons, which gave us 3 hours endurance for the 2 hour flight to Tarif. When word got around that we were returning to Bahrain, not Sharjah, a Lt Col appeared and asked for a lift as he was due to go on leave in the UK the following day. As usual the 4 channel HF set had gone out of tune during our time in Jebels, so we had no means of informing anyone of our flight plan/intentions or obtaining a met forecast. We followed our usual track out of the mountains, passing between Jebel Shams and the 9000' Jebel Kawr, then headed towards the Ibri oasis. Up to that point the the visibility had been good with a light northwesterly wind at 5000'. Not long after setting heading from Ibri the visibility began to deteriorate and it became turbulent. We were soon swallowed up in a full blown sand storm and battling against increasing headwinds. The navigator, a hairy old Master Nav, admitted he was about as much use as a leaking kettle as he could see nothing through the drift sight and the ADF was only picking up static. Knowing our position roughly by the colour of sand and the time flown from Ibri, I descended until dunes became visible at about 500'. We soon realised that our ground speed was no more than 50 kts and it was obvious that we did not have enough fuel to reach our destination! As we crawled towards Tarif I had to descend to 100' to maintain visual contact with the ground. After we entered an area of dunes with promising flat areas between them I decided to land and sit it out until the wind dropped and the visibility improved. We could then fly back towards the high ground safely and land at Ibri or even Firq. I was hoping to see some vehicle tracks, which might have given some indication of the state of the surface, but none appeared. It was rather like looking for a suitable layby when junior is bursting for a pee, I kept putting off the landing, hoping for a better area beyond the next dune, there is always a better spot just around the corner! Suddenly a clear flat stretch of greyish sand appeared in front of us, I lowered full flap and landed. After shutting down i opened the upper escape hatch and fitted the pitot covers. In the distance a thin white line was just visible through the blowing sand. It resembled the salt outcrops near Mirfa, but we were still many miles from the coast. I decided to investigate. The white line turned out to be a line of tents along the side of a graded airstrip about 1000 yards long! They were all zipped up against the weather and there was no visible way into them. The sound of music drifted from the end tent. I had to kick the side of it several times before a zip slid down and a head appeared through the gap.
"Where are you parked?" he said.
"Over there," I replied, pointing towards the dunes behind the tents.
"Drive it down and leave it with trucks, then come and join us."
He looked surprised when I said, "OK, if I can taxy it over the hump." I went on to explained our situation and he said, "No problem, how much fuel do you need - our aviation specialist is familiar with Twin Pioneers.
We had stumbled across a Geo-Survey team who, having marked out the strip the previous day, were ready for their first York. Their radio was out of action, but due to the weather they were sure the scheduled York would not be arriving that afternoon and were enjoying a few drinks in their air conditioned day tent.
The aviation specialist put in 40 gallons a side and handed me the container tops wrapped in a blue cloth. "Your receipt," he said.
We had a very enjoyable evening and woke to a clear sky and calm conditions.
It turned out that we had landed over a hundred miles short of Tarif and would have run out fuel if the headwind had remained the same to the coast.
After a quick refuelling stop at Tarif we flew on to Bahrain and said goodbye to a very happy colonel. Nobody knew we had been missing for eighteen hours and nobody ever picked up the fact we flew for six hours on four hours fuel!

[sisemen]

Magic post Brakedwell :ok:

[India Four Two]

brakedwell,

I've just watched the video about the Pembroke accident (#405). Nice voice-over. Is that you?

I was surprised that the repairs took six weeks. Was there more to it than pulling down the tail and lowering the nose wheel?

[brakedwell]

It is my voice India Four Two. They replaced the fuselage from the wing forward, but I don't know where they got the new one from. A Beverley flew everything up from Aden, including a large air conditioned inflatable tent. One of the Chief Techs told me that although the repair was uneconomical it was an opportunity to test new repair equipment in the field.

[India Four Two]

One of the Chief Techs told me that although the repair was uneconomical it was an opportunity to test new repair equipment in the field.

Thanks. I wondered if it might have been treated as an exercise. Operation Cut and Shut? ;)

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

I second that, 'sisemen.' An eventful flight, well told. Any more 'brakedwell?'

[brakedwell]

i'll dig out some photos taken during a trip I did with a BBC film crew to film a burning ship in gulf - in a Pembroke this time. Quite an interesting story.

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

While we're waiting brakedwell, here's another slide copy taken of Sharjah village. It was on the same flight as the Al Khatt one in XM959 on 11.3.66. RAF Sharjah just visible by the port windscreen wiper. The beached tug(?) clearly seen on the sand bar.
(Apologies for the blemishes. I have tried to get rid of them, but it only works on some.)

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag32/saunders-roe/d2da6fee-41e9-4282-b535-5d553db30dc4_zps2756216d.jpg

[brakedwell]

Very nice SAROSKEETERMAN, old memories well stirred!

I was on standby in Muharraq on Saturday April 8th 1961 when they called me out to fly a BBC camera crew to film a ship on fire off Dubai. The BBC team were making a documentary about Bahrain and having failed to charter an aircraft from Gulf Aviation they contacted HQRAFPG, who agreed to provide a Pembroke. I took off shortly before midday with a signaller in the right hand seat of WV743. The navigator was in the cabin seat next to the port side of the front bulkhead, looking after my camera.

We homed in on smoke from the burning ship and arrived at the scene of the disaster about 30 miles north of Dubai. A small tanker was standing by a hundred yards away, but we had no way of contacting it. For the next 30 minutes I made a series of orbits and low passes over and along the sides of the ship in order to give the film crew value for their money. During this time all three crew members were able to use my trusty Yashicamat, hence the different perspectives in the photos.

We saw several bodies floating in the sea around the ship and a few large sharks cruising amongst them. At that time we were didn’t know 238 lives had already been lost. We had been airborne for four and a half hours when we landed back in Bahrain. I said farewell to the BBC crew and went to my room and developed the negatives. (2 X 120 size B & W Ilford film)

I produced postcard sized prints of the six best negatives and walked over to the Officers Mess, only to be confronted by two scruffy characters in civilian clothes. The older man introduced himself as Harry Gibbons, Daily Express Middle East Correspondent based in Beirut. He was looking for the pilot who had flown the BBC camera crew to the Dara! I admitted it was me, assuming he had overheard the BBC crew talking about their flight in the Speedbiird Hotel. He was very enthusiastic about my pictures, but said he needed 10” x !2” sized prints to transmit them to London ASAP. After a high speed taxi ride to Manama we managed to get Ashraf to open up and bought a large box of 10” x 12” photographic paper, then a mad dash back and a super fast printing session completed the exercise. As soon as the prints were dry enough to handle, Harry and his side-kick left for the cable and wireless building in Manama, but not before he promised the copyright would always remain mine. I received a handsome sum for two photos published in the Daily Express and during the next six months several cheques in the region of £50 arrived from various Maritime Insurance Companies who had used them as evidence during an enquiry in Hamburg.
The Dara was taken in tow two days later, but never reached Dubai, sinking 3 miles off the coast near Um Al Quwain.

These eyewitness accounts describe what happened far better than I ever can:

The Ship Wreck Dara (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clivebillson/CSD/CSD.html)

A night of horror on the Arabian Gulf - The National (http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/a-night-of-horror-on-the-arabian-gulf)

Dara anchored in Muscat Harbour in 1960
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/MV%20Dara/DaraMuscatHarbour1960850_zps47c23541.jpg

Arriving overhead
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/MV%20Dara/DaraFire850_zps94d1fc89.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/MV%20Dara/Darasideview850_zpsdc4b0a20.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/MV%20Dara/Darabowshot850_zps83fa2ebc.jpg

Low fly-by
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/MV%20Dara/Dara-lowfly-by850_zps1234eb3f.jpg

Sunk
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/MV%20Dara/Daraweeping850_zps60f8cb1c.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/MV%20Dara/Daralyingonseabed850_zpse5716aef.jpg

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Thankyou 'brakedwell' for this fascinating piece. What a tragedy.
Excellant photo's as usual and nice to know they were used during the enquiry.

[ULH Extreme]

Hi All, I was in Soaf in the 70s and this thread has brought back alot of memories of the area and the airfields, if you could call them that.

In 76/77, can't find logbook right now, so guessing, i flew the last a/c out of SHJ. We were in a Viscount and loaded up with all the old RAF junk that was left and took it back to Muscat. I asked about all the bulldozers and trucks around and they said that after we were airborne, they would rip up the runway. Shame no camera.

Brakedwell, great stories, wish i had your memory, can't even find my log books.
I was doing the 4 Firq Saiq on a Thursday morning and leaving Saiq for the run back to MCT for Thur. night fun and games at the Gulf Hotel and pimms at the Beach Club on Fri. Well over 30c at Saiq plus a 7-10kt tailwind so was rather weight restricted in the little Skyvan. A couple of Army mates turned up and asked for a lift, well i couldn't say no. One of them sat in the righthand seat and after we basically fell over the cliff, asked why that horn was blowing as i was dodging bushes at the end of the rw. Made them buy me several beers at the Beach Club and never did that again. Still remember the bushes going past.
By the way, there was no new rw there in the 70s. I think Cooper was still there.

[sisemen]

One does wonder how an object built of steel can burn so completely.

[brakedwell]

Old Sharjah must have been ripped up at the end of 1976 or early 1977. My last trip to Sharjah was in a Britannia 312 on the 17th/18th October 1976. On my next visit I landed at Sharjah New in a DC8 on April 21st 1977.

I'm still confused about the Saiq strip development. I know they levelled a longer strip northeast of the original after I returned home in Aug 1961, because I flew over it several times while on Argosies in Aden in 64/66. Many years later I used to fly over the Jebel Akhdar on our Vienna-Maldives flights when an even longer runway could be seen from FL370.

I have outlined the original strip.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/152%20Squadron%20Bahrain/saiq_zps84c4cb74.jpg

Original Strip looking Northwest.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/152%20Squadron%20Bahrain/Saiqrunway_zps674c4d56.jpg

Looking South
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/152%20Squadron%20Bahrain/Saiqstrip_zpsb8c224f9.jpg

SSW
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/152%20Squadron%20Bahrain/SaiqTinPinLocals_zps27c30e8c.jpg

This is the final development of Bait al Falaj before I left - a new ramp to drip oil on!
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/152%20Squadron%20Bahrain/Baitalfalajramp_zpsf5bbeaf5.jpg

[JW411]

http://www.frpilot.com/Dad/XN819.JPG

The first Argosy to land at Bait al Falaj. XN819 on 15.01.68. I am the one dressed for the occasion!

[JW411]

http://www.frpilot.com/Dad/Bait5.JPG

Passenger view on short finals to Bait.

[brakedwell]

I am the one dressed for the occasion!

What's that on your head jock?

[goudie]

Amazing that so many stories can come from such a small RAF station.
I spent only a couple of detachments there, from Cyprus, in the mid 60's, but did have a 3 day jaunt out into the hinterland on one occasion to a TOS camp. Love reading all the tales,
especially from you Brakedwell. They should be in a book!

[JW411]

http://www.frpilot.com/Dad/Tarif2.jpg

That upon my head is my one and only Hats SD.

In the meantime, I have just come across my homemade plate for Tarif. I hope it is legible. You will note that 34/16 was 7,100 feet long by about 1967 so it was a pretty big strip.

[brakedwell]

Interesting chart. IIRC only 34/16 was available in 59/61 and it was much shorter than 7100'. More importantly they stocked (free) Watney's Red Barrel. I know it was rubbish, but it was thirst quenching rubbish! Their steaks were pretty good too.

[JW411]

As they used to say:

"Don't take the p*ss out of Watneys, it's the only flavour it's got!"

By the way, the steaks at Fahud took a bit of beating.

[navstar1]

Kippers for breakfast in the mess at Nizwa after an early morning flight. Those were the days!!:O

[brakedwell]

Kippers for breakfast in the mess at Nizwa after an early morning flight. Those were the days!!

Bet they didn't have any marmalade :p

[friendlypelican 2]

Sharjah 1968 - 84 Sqn Line

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8508/8488384663_5005c96954_z.jpg

[friendlypelican 2]

Since the post above worked, here is what I found in my wardrobe this morning:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8525/8489459146_04b1436c3e_z.jpg

[JW411]

Bloody hell; do you ever wear it? Mine is covered in beer stains and fag-end burns!

[brakedwell]

Watney's Red Barrel no doubt :eek:

[friendlypelican 2]

JW411,
The thin end was cut off many years ago and probably still hangs in an Oxford pub (The Turl?). I recollect you got a pint (def not Red Barrel) if you made a donation.
I've just checked upstairs, and my '12 months' (without it) tie is also missing the thin end.
Mind you, on 84, when you came back from yr mid-tour UK leave you were expected to make an honest entry on the 'touchdown to touch-up' board!!

[navstar1]

Lightly buttered finger toast. yum yum!:ok:

[navstar1]

I assume 84 took over from 152? Did you also do a 12 month tour with a break at the six month point? Did the Andover perform well out in the sticks?

[friendlypelican 2]

Navstar,
Yes, there was a slight overlap with the TwinPins and 84 had a full complement of a/c by Dec '67. The tour was 13 months including a months leave near the middle.
The Andover C1 worked pretty well in the desert, certainly better than any other employment the RAF found for it over the years. Compared to other 748 models it was 'overpowered' with water meth used as a selectable power boost rather than just as a power restoration system. The 14' 6'' prop was fully reversable and the flap extensions at 27 and 30 deg allowed a STOL rotate speed of 76kts (I think) with a general V2 of 96kts. This all meant that we generally looked at 2000ft+ as OK. Certainly Mirfa/Manama etc. were 'routine' with payloads around 4-5000lbs available. Cruising at 210 kts and trips like Salalah - Muharraq etc direct as an option, it was all great fun. I'll dig out some more photos, now I've hacked the technology.

[Capot]

The change to the Andover as the TOS support aircraft was not universally welcomed among us rag-heads. It seemed to us that operationally it carried little more than a Twin Pin, but made a hugely greater fuss over it.

What really got us was that with the Twin Pins, at Sharjah we could roll up 10 minutes before departure, Landrover to the aircraft door, and climb in carrying whatever we had to take with us. Much the same as at the outstations, in short.

Then, suddenly, RAF Sharjah acquired a Movements Controller, or some such, along with its shiny Andovers, and we were instructed to report to some kind of check-in ONE HOUR before departure. This was not considered funny.

The great Don Tibbee, Paymaster extraordinaire, was especially put out by all this. He had been doing the pay-runs to stations for years, carrying a very large trunk full of Indian coins to pay the soldiers. He would show up at the TP door, with an escort, all armed to the teeth to protect Her Maj's funds, climb in with the trunk and off they would go.

His first trip under the new system did not go well. Arriving 10 minutes before departure as was his right, he was not allowed on to the airfield, but told to go the the Movements Centre (I forget the exact name it had). There he was met by a young and rather pompous Movements person who looked at the loaded handguns with horror, and told him and the escort to hand them over to be stowed safely. After an altercation, he did so with bad grace. Then he was told that the cash trunk had to be checked in, and reclaimed on arrival at the outstation. After another altercation ("I'm not handing that over to a bunch of light-fingered airmen") he gave in, but then told the Movements Officer that the TOS had adopted Royal Army Pay Corps rules, among which was one saying that cash had to be checked on any handover by the receiver. He then upended the trunk over the floor, and suggested that coffee would be in order while the Movements Officer counted the thousands of coins and low value notes, and put them back in the trunk.

I'm sure a complaint winged its way to Murqaab Camp, but Don was totally fireproof and nothing would have been done about it.

At around that time, the conversion of the TOS from what an official report called "an ill-disciplined bunch of misfits" to a rather more spit-and-polish outfit was in full swing, to the resentment of the older hands. The changes at RAF Sharjah were seen as another nail in the coffin of the old-style TOS.

[sisemen]

While were on to Andovers - here's a few from the collection taken a matter of weeks after delivery. Also one of the Wessex up from Aden.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c92/allan907/DSC00060_zps423248d7.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c92/allan907/DSC00044-2Sharjah_zpsfefcfcc4.jpg

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c92/allan907/DSC00025-2Sharjah_zpsca98d93a.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c92/allan907/DSC00054Sharjah_zpseacf631b.jpg

Seem to remember that there was a constant problem with XS643 after it arrived - CofG??

[navstar1]

Capot. That's so called progress!!:(

[navstar1]

Siseman. Great pics. Lots of concrete! In 66 we still parked on the sand the only hard apron was a small area for the hunters when on detachment. There is still an old T2 hangar near the old base I wonder if that is the one in your picture. I know a very big building programme was planned with new accommodation,officers mess,swimming pools etc all completed in time for the pull out. Situation normal as soon as a new mess is completed its time to pack up and go!:E

[navstar1]

Pelican. Many thanks for the info on the above. Did you have air con to cool down on the ground? Also I seem to remember that the aircraft could kneel whilst loading is that correct?

[friendlypelican 2]

Capot,
The growing Movs empire was equally detested by us aircrew. I think I know the Movs officer you mention. he was known to us as 'Pete the Excuse'! Inept would be too fine a word.

Navstar,
No cooling on the ground which was always the driving force to get engines going asap. As to the kneeling bit:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8229/8488384705_c3b1df8225_z.jpg

[navstar1]

Pelican. Very clever! Did it every give you a c of g problem? I believe the nav had some excellent equipment which must have made it much easier to find Humar in the Liwa Hollows!!:ok:

[friendlypelican 2]

Whilst the Andover was a technological step-up from the TwinPin, the nav kit was basic - ADF/VOR but we did have a doppler for drift/GS. Getting around the Liwa Hollows we used the same pen/ink maps that Capot showed in Post #360. I seem to recall they were prepared direct from Canberra PR photos and did take a bit of getting used to, but were excellent. Further to the performance of the a/c, I see from my logbook that on 23 Aug '68 we air-dropped 3 X 1 ton containers at Humar. Given that it was probably v. hot etc, this was useful support to the TOS.
The photo above of the 'kneeling' a/c was taken on the airfield at Sharjah during a demo day for local 'bigwigs'.

Sisemen,
Like your photos - I delivered XS645 from the UK. As to the query re XS643, I do remember that one of the a/c had a 'handling' problem, with a tendancy to get airborne a tad early and almost mainwheels first. After much head-scratching and airtests, a TP came out from the UK and as best I can recall, a further detailed check showed that one wing dihedral was 1/2 degree different from the other. Somehow the riggers managed to minimize the problem (bless 'em) and it stayed in service.

All this has got me back into the books, photos and memories - fun times.
Here is a photo of downtown Sharjah (not me, but one of our Kiwi co-pilots). All my stuff is between Nov '67 and Dec '68.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8371/8488340547_552a58050b_z.jpg

Our other Kiwi is a regular Ppruner and hopefully will chip-in to this thread.

[Herod]

Snap!!

http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr302/peter46/CannonSharjah1968.jpg

[goudie]

As to the kneeling bit:I was the ground engineer on one of the first Andovers from 46 Sqdn to fly in to Malta. We left the a/c in the kneeling position with Station Flt and made our way to the transit mess. About a hour later a frantic Flt/Sgt called me in the mess to say I'd better get down there asap 'cos the u/carriage had collapsed! He took some convincing that there was nothing to worry about.

Apologies for slight thread drift

[brakedwell]

Brewers of date hooch and others guilty of minor misdemeanours were tied to the cannons and flogged at the end of Ramadan. These photos were taken just before one such occasion, but but I had to leave when the crowd became agitated.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/152%20Squadron%20Bahrain/Sharjahpre-flogging-1_zps16efccc5.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/152%20Squadron%20Bahrain/Sharjahmeeting-1_zps62e9f87e.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/152%20Squadron%20Bahrain/Sharjahtrouble_zps93ef9739.jpg

[alisoncc]

Hi brakedwell, pity about your date hooch going down the loo. Hope the scars have worn off by now. :ok:

[sisemen]

friendlypelican2 Yup. That's how I remember it. For a while that bird was in the hangar more often than not until they solved the problem.

I became reacquainted with her on my last tour at Benson where she was one of the flight checking aircraft on 115

[Fareastdriver]

I had to leave when the crowd became agitated.

Always a good idea in any country when they are hanging out their dirty washing. I remember tactfully divng into a Starbucks in China immediately after seeing a Chinese policeman drop a bagsnatcher with his automatic pistol.

[brakedwell]

It might have been worth staying if I'd had a colour film. :E

[leesaranda]

Floggings on the Sharjah cannons were rare but we were warned to stay clear because emotions ran high. Buraimi seemed equally Mediaeval in 1965. We (the Twin Pin crew) got told that 'someone' had been caught burying a land mine in the middle of the Buraimi strip the week before. Supposedly TOS heard about this a week to ten days after the event. He was apparently parked in a bottle dungeon by the Sheik's men and when TOS wanted to interrogate him, the response was said to have been 'Of course, we'll show you where he is'. A week without food and, more importantly, water meant that that was the end of the affair. I was never sure if the story was apocryphal or not, it was clearly sensitive as the guys at Jahili Fort were speaking about it in hushed tones but that may have been because I was being asked to fetch a can of tartan paint. I was never sure.

[brakedwell]

Tonight - BBC 2 at 9pm. It might stir a few memories.

Sand, Wind and Stars New series. Documentary revealing the connections between the wildlife, landscape and people of the Arabian peninsula. The first edition features animals including oryxes, jerboas, horned vipers and scorpions, and a journey with the Bedouin - camel-riding nomads who are the only humans to have mastered the art of survival in the desert

[goudie]

Sand, Wind and Stars New series.
Yes looking forward to that, make a change from the jungles and the savannas.
Until I flew from Cairo to Bahrain I didn't realise how vast the Arabian desert is

[SAROSKEETERMAN]

Thanks for that brakedwell, I would have missed it otherwise.

[mail2nix]

Captain Salman and Quebec, I note that you may have been arranging to meet last year to look over the ex-RAF airfield. I'm a bit late, but if you are still going to do this, I would like to come along if possible, as I have a strong interest in that area, having first (and last) visited it back in 1986/7 and 1989 and took a few photos at the time! Please do email me at [email protected] if you'd like. I'm based in Abu Dhabi.

[sisemen]

A PM (private message) might be the best way to contact the two individuals mail2nix. It's more certain than the two happening to chance a visit to this thread again (haven't heard from Salman for quite a while.

[friendlypelican 2]

Bump!
Still working throught the old photos. This 35mm slide has 'Manama' written on it. As best I remember, the surface and vegetation looks right. About 30 nms east of Sharjah?


http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8388/8488328813_4f2011ef88_d.jpg

[brakedwell]

friendlypelican 2

Was the Andover vulnerable to flap damage? Those loose stones at Bureimi, Al Khatt and Manama were always looking for an easy target.

[friendlypelican 2]

Brakedwell,
Surprisingly not. I don't recall any instance of significant flap damage although the engineers were forever 'blending out' nicks in the prop leading edges. The 'magic' of the CMk1 was a combination of the big engine/14ft6in reversing prop/Fowler flaps and a beefy undercarriage. The Fowler flap extension at the 30deg setting (landing only) gave both increased lift and drag and with a touchdown max of 14 ft/sec plus reverse selected whilst still airborne (just!) the beast stopped on a sixpence. I suppose this all combined to reduce exposure to stone damage. On take-off (shortest with 27deg flap) the Fowler extension gave loads of lift and the plan was generally to get A/B at about 76kts then level off at approx 20ft, clear of stones etc., accelerate to V2 (generally about 96kts) and you are in Perf A business. The photo above shows a take-off with the Fowler flap quite well. Once 84 Sqn left the Middle East, there was little need to use the more extreme aspects of the performance and it reverted to being no more than a small, short-range airlifter. I only did 3 years and I believe that later the full STOL handling was not used or perhaps even banned by the 'powers that be'.

[brakedwell]

Thanks, the Andover was obviously a giant leap from the Tin Pin. The reason I asked was the one time I landed a Britannia on an unpaved service, in Resolute Bay, we collected quite a few dents in the flaps during the landing run and that was without using reverse. I think the permafrost saved us from worse damage as most of the stones were frozen into the (long) strip. It was a bit different from Sharjah!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/ResoluteBaydawn_zps5656bcb6.jpg

[friendlypelican 2]

Brakedwell,
Don't want to wander too far from the the thread, but I do like the pic of 'The Whispering Giant' in the Arctic!

[brakedwell]

I was getting bored with the sand! Back to the subject. Talking of prop damage, I picked up a bullet hole in the port prop during a slow stagger from Firq to Saig. The was no bang, just a sudden whistling sound and we didn't discover the source until we shut down at Firq to refuel two round trips later. I couldn't believe a lead bullet would go right through a metal prop.

[friendlypelican 2]

Some from Beit:

Approach.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8095/8488325323_f8569da07e_d.jpg

Finals.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8372/8488325311_6159502708_d.jpg

Line-up.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8247/8489419034_fc647eca3a_d.jpg

And when I was back there 10 years ago, took this on app to Seeb. I hv superimposed where I reckon the Beit R/W was in our time.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8105/8526958979_73718029d5_d.jpg

Times change and nowhere as fast as the Middle East!

[old,not bold]

Gulf Aviation was still under the UK CAA when the BAC 1-11 was introduced. Those pics reminded me of a glorious day, just after the purchase, when some of us rode along when BAC demonstrated to the CAA's satisfaction that scheduled passenger services could be operated safely at Bait, in daylight and reasonable visibility anyway.

The CAA imposed more and more difficulties; overload - lots of sandbags in the hold; overshoot, engine failure at V1, ditto with overload, and so on. The aircraft passed everything with flying colours.

At the end of an exciting day we all got in, 20 or so, I guess, to go back to BAH with just the sector fuel and no cargo except the used spare wheels and a jack, ie light. The BAC pilot said that if no-one minded, he would show us what you could really do with a BAC1-11 when unconstrained by the rules. He set absolute full power and released the brakes, going to the West; what happened then reminded me of a glider winch launch (or my only 2 rides in a 2-seat Hunter). I'm sure we cleared the ridge by at least 2,000 ft, perhaps a lot more.

[brakedwell]

Was Chuck Thrower one of the BAC pilots?

[JW411]

http://www.frpilot.com/Dad/Bait4.JPG

And here is the Argosy view of starting finals to runway 33 at Bait al Falaj.