Gan revist

[bushveld]

I am taking a nostalgic trip back to Addu Attol in 3 weeks time.(I was stationed there for all of 1973).

If any Ppruners would like me to take pics of any particular site on Gan, Hittadu etc, please let me know before I go on 9 Feb. I think quite a lot of the infrastructure remains, but perhaps not the Blue Spittoon, nor the Astra!

[Shytehawk]

As a herc driver I made many visits from from '68 to '73 I would appreciate seeing any of your photos. I fondly remember the whole audience in the Astra shouting "Wait for it" prior to a glimpse of bikini bottom diving into a swimming pool during one of the ads.

[oxenos]

How about a shot of the Nurse's hostel on Bushey Island.

[Rossian]

Does that mean that Gan is now a holiday resort? Another strange place. I remember the padre replying to our Qs about life on Gan by explaining (in aircrew terms he thought) "Well, there are some master switches that need to be switched off for the duration or life would be unbearable". We were only there for two and a half weeks SAR searching, thank god.

The Ancient Mariner

[dagama]

A photo of a 'doni' boat with the OM in the background would be nice. One of 'You call it Blue Spitoon, I call it Blue Baboon' would also be nice. Have good one.

[Tankertrashnav]

Does that mean that Gan is now a holiday resort?


I'm amused that people now pay large sums of money for a holiday there. Always makes me think of a guy on our squadron which was there on a lengthy detachment. The flight commander asked him if he'd organise some sports, to which he replied, "Sorry sir, but I'm already running the escape committee"!

Funny old world

[ricardian]

Remember the old RAF advert showing a photo of a fresh-faced young airmen and the caption "I'm going to the RAF's island in the sun"?
I never made it to Gan, the nearest I got was 12 months in the commcen at RAF Sharjah

[SRENNAPS]

Bushveld,

I am sure that this has been posted here before, but just in case you have not seen it:

Royal Air Force Gan - Remembered (http://www.gan.philliptsmall.me.uk/)

Check out the Lonely Men of Coral Command, Parts 1-4

I returned to Penang last year. The first time since I lived there as a kid in 68-71. Fantastic. A lot had changed, but in my eyes, nothing had changed.

Good luck and have a great trip.

[Warmtoast]

Bushveld

My daughter who's in the travel trade has received details of Shangri-La's new Villingili Resort and Spa, not strictly Gan, but a couple of hundred yards across the water. From what she's told me an interesting place and a step up from Equator Village on Gan.

FWIW I was stationed at RAF Gan in 1958 and attach some photos I took there some 54-year's ago.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/GAN/Image9-640-1.jpg

Brown tents in 40 degree heat - that's what you call hot!

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/GAN/InTent-1.jpg

Tent interior. I'm the skinny one on the right.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/GAN/Image10-1.jpg

RAF Gan Astra cinema. Open air - if it rained you got wet!

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/GAN/Dhonies.jpg

Dhonies all lined up ready to take the locals back to their islands in the lagoon.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/GAN/Dhoni2.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/GAN/Bigaloo2.jpg

A Bigaloo used for longer atoll-to-atoll sea journeys.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/GAN/KajunHut.jpg

Kadjan (woven coconut-palm leaves) walled luxury. This accommodation was luxury compared to the tents.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/GAN/BilletBoy.jpg

We even had a billet-boy to make our beds and keep the place clean and tidy. Wage about a packet of cigarettes a week.

Note the pimative home-made light above the bed. Lamp-holder in a baked beans tin with a sheet of metal to act as a reflector

[Wiley]

The couple of times I paxed through Gan on VC10s, my main memory is of (it always seemed) EVERY off duty man on the island in attendance at Air Momements (in the wee, wee hours of the morning) to catch a glimpse of females.

There was one story I was told of a corporal who was carried down to Base Medical Section on the shoulders of his peers, a hero, with proof positive that he'd scored with one (one could only surmise) very understanding female passenger during the 90 minute VC10 turnaround - he'd caught a dose of clap!

On my first trip through Gan, (on a Britannia), we rigged the airquartermistress' bikini to the demountable pennant pole that could be rigged to fly a VIP's flag from the cockpit window with two wire coat hangers.

I wish I had a video of the airman who was marshalling us in. First, the look of consternation - ("Oh ***, no one warned us there was a VIP on this flight."); then, the confusion when he couldn't make out what *** flag was flying; then, when he recognised the bikini and the half dozen grinning faces (including the airquartermistress) watching him, he simply threw down his batons and walked away in disgust and left us to park ourselves.

[Whopity]

A friend of mine went to Gan a few years ago, he said 3 days was enough! Whilst there he met an ex Metman who had gone for a fortnight. The pictures I saw indicated little change since the RAF moved out. The Blue Lagoon is now the Hotel and looked exactly as it used to be but without the noisy crews drinking crates of Carlsberg with plates of sausages and chips. Google Earth shows it to be much as it was, apart from the new causeway to Feydhoo.

[brakedwell]

Gan featured at lot during my time on Britannias (66/74) Dinghy drill was a good way to fill in time between our sessions in the Blue Spitoon and we didn't have to suffer the public baths in UK.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/aviation/DinhyDrillGan.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/aviation/8mandinghyoffGan.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/aviation/AirSeaRescueLaunchoffGan.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/aviation/AbusyGanbeachlatesixties.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c32/sedgwickjames/aviation/Gansunset.jpg