New 'Cyprus 1963-64 clasp on the GSM

[Tankertrashnav]

I've been alerted by our member Q-RTF-X to the fact that a new clasp 'Cyprus 1963 -64' has been approved for the General Service Medal 1962. Here are the details:

Following The Sir John Holmes Independent Medal Review the government has announced that a new clasp has been given approval.

Those servicemen who served in Cyprus during the period 21 December 1963 to 26 March 1964 will be awarded the General Service Medal (1962) with clasp ‘Cyprus 1963-64’. Applications for the new clasp will be accepted from 1 March 2015 onwards. The first of the awards will be dispatched towards the end of that month (however these timings remain under review). Applications will be dealt with in date order.

Also approved at the same time are a new clasp 'Berlin Airlift' for the earlier GSM, and a reduction in the qualifying period for the 'Cyprus' clasp on the earlier GSM from 120 to 90 days.

Further details on this site, which also has a link for those wishing to make a claim for this and any other medals or clasps

https://www.gov.uk/medals-campaigns-descriptions-and-eligibility#general-service-medal-1962-and-clasps

[Wander00]

Can't claim for Towers Leadership Camp Easter 63 then!

[snippy]

Wot no RAF Hong Kong medal for keeping the mighty Chinese hoards at bay with half a dozen Wessex.....:{

[teeteringhead]

keeping the mighty Chinese hoards at bay with half a dozen Wessex..... Make that 5 after "man at C&A" had thrown XR 500 into the South China Sea!

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

When will the Hastings 1066 Clasp be approved? Surely every possible recipient is dead now, thus putting the Treasury to no expense?

[HTB]

Steady on Bananaman

I flew in them there Hastings's (1973 - STCBS pre-Vulcan softening up course), as too would many F4 and Bucc back seaters (trying to make the H2S simulate their radars). Separated from my logbooks at the moment, so can't give the pilots' names, except for Sqn Ldr 'Jumbo' Jackson.

I'm sure there are many living potential recipients from V-Force and the other two mentioned above; unless you mean assigned staff, then you might have a case.

Mister B

[Tankertrashnav]

Fox - 'Hastings 1066" would warrant a separate medal, surely, since the GSM

...was awarded to personnel of all services for campaigns and operations that fell short of full scale war.

Thing is - which monarch's head would you have on the obverse - Harold, complete with arrow projecting from his eye, or the victorious William? I'm guessing the latter.

(Not sure if HTM is deliberately missing your point ;))

[langleybaston]

Wot abart the metman, then?

Only three forecasters were "on-base" in quarters at RAF Nicosia. The remainder lived out, and were either a. ordered to stay at home and keep their heads down". or
b. were sufficiently wise/ terrified to do likewise.
That left the Chief Met Officer, his Deputy, and one very junior forecaster to work 12 on 24 off to keep the airbridge forecasts going for weeks.
Families, mine included, with less than six? months tour left were bundled home, so their blokes moved into the Mess bungalows.

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We don't qualify for the clasp, but I got something rather better: accelerated promotion for keeping my bosses on the straight and narrow.

Great days.

[Old-Duffer]

Interesting that and I noticed the suggestion when reading the Holmes report.

At times, 1967-68 could get a bit hairy in Hong Kong during the cultural revolution ordained by Mr Mao and his little red book. There were riots, murders etc and an Army staff sgt was killed in a terrorist incident which led to an RAMC captain being awarded a QCBC. The local paper even printed a photograph of a British police inspector or rather several bits of a British police inspector after he had decided to move a suspect package. Bodies with their hands tied behind their backs floated down the river between HK and Macau.

It was a direct consequence of the internal security situation which led to six Whirlwinds from 103 and 110 Sqn being sent to HK and being manned on rotation from Singapore. In early '68, it was decided to reform 28 as the sqn and post in people on a permanent tour. We even made a home made squadron standard which TTN paraded on the QB parade 1968 - and I've got the photos to prove it!

Old Duffer

[goudie]

21 December 1963 to 26 March 1964

I was at Akrotiri at the time, living in Limassol, and the situation was a bit hairy to say the least, and continued to be so for some time. What is significant about this particular period?

[ian16th]

Goudie

I too was living out in Limassol.

21st Dec was the Saturday before Xmas and the day that the Turkish Cypriots demonstrated in Nicosia against the decision by the Greek Cypriots to ignore the Turkish Cypriots veto in parliament.

During the demonstration two Greek Cypriot policemen panicked and opened fire. I believe that there were two Turkish Cypriots killed.

I was Ord Cpl at Akrotiri that day!

As for the 26th March being the end date, I dunno, it doesn't stick in my memory.

I do remember that the fighting in Limassol broke out on the morning of 14th Feb. The Greek Cypriots had a machine gun on the tower in the Keo Brewery and they produced a Valentine tank, which apparently was secreted in some wine cellar and never discovered during the EOKA times.

[HTB]

Aah TTN

That's 'Mister B to you', not HTM:E

Well spotted; tried to slip in a little diversionary litotes...:ok:

Mister B

[MOSTAFA]

Wot no RAF Hong Kong medal for keeping the mighty Chinese hoards at bay with half a dozen Wessex.....

And 9 Scouts I seem to remember.

[Tankertrashnav]

We even made a home made squadron standard which TTN paraded on the QB parade 1968 - and I've got the photos to prove it!

Definitely not me. I've seen the photo and it's some slim smart bloke in a Number 6. I'm sure I was never that shape :(

;)

Sorry HTB - must get these specs replaced!

[Old-Duffer]

Mostafa,

In the interests of inclusivity, you must remember the HKAAF - later RHKAAF - and their Alouettes and slack handful of Austers (RIP Peter Moore). There was the occasional Wasp (Nigel Burberry where are you). Not too many RN Wessex once Albion and Bulwark had gone home but this was all before the Government Air Service and its posh S70s or whatever.

O-D

[MOSTAFA]

Hear hear OD

I just didn't think it exclusive to the 6........or was it 5 Wessex. Can't imagine bling for such privelidge, albeit it could get a bit fraught in 'Red Lips' on occasion and always a fight to get near the bar in 'Neds'.

[goudie]

ian16th

Yes, February was when it really kicked off in Limassol.
My wife gave birth to our second daughter on the 11th and when I went to see her it was in a convoy of cars under armed escort. I recall seeing the Paras parked up in the plantation on the outskirts of town.

A sgt on my sqdn lived in a flat overlooking Big Arifs. One Sunday morning he and his family were ordered out of the flat by heavily armed Greeks. He drove, with his family, to the Base and presented himself to the evacuation centre, which had been set up in the Education block. The evacuation officer remonstrated with him, saying the order to evacuate had not yet been given. He replied, the Greeks had given him the order, which he thought best to obey!

[ian16th]

Evacuation

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz108/ian16th/Clipboard01.jpg

[ian16th]

Page 2 a little faded after 52 years

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz108/ian16th/IMG_20150227_0002.jpg

[ian16th]

Page 3 not so faded

http://i818.photobucket.com/albums/zz108/ian16th/Clipboard02.jpg

[Old-Duffer]

Of the original six Whirlwinds sent to HK in 1967, only one survived to come home again: XP301. The rest went in the water or one lost the head when it flew into power lines.

Poor old 301 was brought all the way back from the Far East and then ended up on the fire dump - a pity as it was the SS11 trials aircraft.

O-D, wiping away a tear.

[goudie]

ian16th Blimey! Where did you get that from?
I was one of the wardens that had to regularly visit families in my area, to ensure they were ready to leave, if and when instructed to do so and read out those orders, to dispel rumours.
I recall going to one house and as I was reading the instructions to them two little poodles came into the room. The wife picked them up making a great fuss of them, telling me they were her babies.
When I read out the instruction that pets were to be left behind and arrangements would be made for them to be humanely destroyed
the poor woman was naturally distraught. Difficult times.

[MOSTAFA]

OD prior to pilot trading many of us started as proud SS11 pointers! I can only say it was awful - but at least it made a decent bang when/if it hit what it was being pointed at. Unlike the many fired that followed.

[teeteringhead]

Ahhh! the SS-11.

Time (again) for my trivia question. Where and from what aircraft and on which Squadron did the RAF first fire a Guided Weapon operationally? (ie against baddies not targets).

I won't ask the type of weapon ........ ;)

(I bet O-D knows.....)

[Melchett01]

At the risk of very slight thread drift, but still GSM related - has anybody heard anymore about the re-introduction of the GSM?

According to the latest edition of JSP 761:

8A.04. General Service Medal 2008:

Details on the award of the General Service Medal 2008 will be published in early 2015 following ratification by the HD Committee and Her Majesty The Queen.

SHADER / LEVANT to be the first clasp?

[Tashengurt]

Slight drift but does anyone who served in Cyprus in the fifties/ sixties recall RAF personnel being involved in the fatal shooting of rioters?

I have a personal reason for asking.

[ian16th]

Tash

anyone who served in Cyprus in the fifties/ sixties recall RAF personnel being involved in the fatal shooting of rioters?

If this happened it would be in the 50's and the EOKA times.

Cyprus became independent in 1960.

[langleybaston]

C Met O was [at personal risk] visiting livers-out in Ayios Dhometios at its nastiest when he was hauled over at a Greek Cypriot road block.

Up against the wall. "Papers!" "Passport?"
"Ah!. OK! You are English?"

"Yes!, me English" said C Met O, gritting his teeth.

Him being a hairy arsed jocks jock, complete with Burns Night thrashes, kilt and all the trimmings.

He nearly wept tears of shame over a beer afterwards.

True, every word of it.

[ian16th]

I've mentioned this to TTN via a PM.


One area with looming errors for this new clasp/medal, is that the qualifying period, 21 December 1963 to 26 March 1964, ends less than a week before the demise of the ranks of Cpl/Tech, Sen/Tech and Master Tech. This happened on 1st April 1964.

So the chances of anyone that qualifies for the clasp/medal getting demobbed while still holding that rank are quite remote.

I wonder how many wrong 'uns will be returned.

[Old-Duffer]

Oh dear me TTH, I hope you didn't put any money on my knowing the first guided weapon fired in anger by the RAF - not really my bag so to speak.

We can exclude Fireflash on the Swift! I have also discounted the rumour that a Firestreak was fired from a Javelin in the Malacca Straits, leading to the demise of an Indonesian Hercules. PGMs don't count - different set of rules really.

I'll go for a Shrike fitted to a Vulcan and fired against the Argies.

Old Duffer

[Davef68]

86 Squadron Liberator with mk 24 "Mine" homing torpedo in 1943.

[MOSTAFA]

The RAF have never had an ATGW helicopter have they?

[Old-Duffer]

ATGW - it rather depends on how you define the SS11.

It was wire guided but as with so many weapons, it can be used as the mood takes you.

O-D

[MOSTAFA]

Ok, perhaps ATGW isn't precisely the correct term for the RAF but exactly what else was it designed to fire at?

Perhaps you could define the SS11.

[Rosevidney1]

Slower than the second coming (if it didn't dive suddenly into the ground after launch), smoke belching out, and prone to cable breaks. When the French stopped producing it the contract for more of the wretched things went to Bangladesh! You couldn't make it up.....

[teeteringhead]

And I didn't say it was a helicopter .................... ;)

[MOSTAFA]

Neither did I!

Rose, as you know, 9 out of 10 worked when they were needed, might have had something to do with all that DX44? training that got in the way of somebody doing all that AFV training.

[MOSTAFA]

Bugger me, picking up all the wire must have been fun and what on earth was was used as a sight? Hats off to 209 Sqn I say.

Reminds me of TOW firing @120kts - now that really worked, I don't think - but that's another story.

[Davef68]

One version of the Twin Pin story was here:

http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/284160-twin-pioneer-2.html

But I still maintain the torpedo was 'guided'!

Incidentally, they also tested the SS11 on a Single Pioneer as well

[MOSTAFA]

I read that with interest Dave but it all seems just a tad unbelievable to someone whose launched a few of these things. The navigator says they were unguided ? Having witnessed several off the launcher the missile had to be captured by the gunner who basically flew it onto the target. If it wasn't 'captured' either in the sight or out - the damn thing danced wherever it wanted totally uncontrolled until the wire broke and then it was supposed to go right and down. I think what I am trying to say is that you probable wouldn't hit the mountain let alone a cave entrance without controlling it.

Fire and forget wasn't even........ fire and a cat in hell's chance.

[teeteringhead]

Twin Pin was - I believe - the right answer. It had slipped my memory that I had posted about it before - well it was in 2007!

I read the story in the F540 of 78 Sqn when I was a baby Wessex pilot in Sharjah (and the F540 scribe). There was a report of a "trial" of SS11 at the time of the Radfan campaign IIRC, which would put it about '64-'65.

A brace of messieurs from Nord Aviation had arrived in Aden to carry out the trial. While en route for a range sortie, they were diverted to a "contact" up-country; some nasty men in a cave could not be zapped by the Hunters because of the tortuous approach path.

So the 78 Sqn Twin-Pin, complete with French civilians :eek: did the deed! The 540 certainly reported it as the first "guided weapon in anger". (Not QUITE the way we'd do business nowadays!!)

78 disbanded last year when its Merlins became 846 NAS, so I guess its F540s will be at AHB, and I imagine that '64/'65 will be declassified by now.

If not - I'm in trouble! :(

[ian16th]

Dates and Ranks on GSM
I've mentioned this to TTN via a PM.


One area with looming errors for this new clasp/medal, is that the qualifying period, 21 December 1963 to 26 March 1964, ends less than a week before the demise of the ranks of Cpl/Tech, Sen/Tech and Master Tech. This happened on 1st April 1964.

So the chances of anyone that qualifies for the clasp/medal getting demobbed while still holding that rank are quite remote.

I wonder how many wrong 'uns will be returned.
I was dead right about this!

In spite of me pointing out the trap in red ink, that lot at Gloucester fell right into it.

After all these years, I'll live with it.

If I was in the UK I might be bothered to send it back and argue.

[Lukeafb1]

Am I being particularly dim???

I was stationed at Akrotiri (on TASF and Strike Wing) but living in town during virtually the whole of the period in question and I don't remember any problems.

Is senility catching up with me??

[Tankertrashnav]

Glad to hear you've received your medal Ian. I'd be interested to hear how the quality of the medal itself compares with earlier issues.

Is senility catching up with me?


Probably ;)

[ian16th]

Lukeafb1 (http://www.pprune.org/members/65195-lukeafb1)
Am I being particularly dim???

I was stationed at Akrotiri (on TASF and Strike Wing) but living in town during virtually the whole of the period in question and I don't remember any problems.

Is senility catching up with me?? If you lived out in Limassol, you should have received the Families Evacuation Scheme document, that I posted earlier.

Also when the shooting happened in Limassol in the February, wherever you lived it must have been difficult not to hear it. The Greeks had a Valentine tank with a Bren on it.

The good news was that the Greek & Turks were shooting at each other, not at us.

I never thought that a medal would be issued, and for it to happen half a century later was a great surprise.

TTN

The medal is silver plated and the clasp is difficult to read! So I expect the quality rating is minimal. As I said, my rank is incorrect, but I doubt if anyone in today's RAF knows what Cpl/Tech, Sen/Tech and Master Tech's were.
With the medal qualification period ending within a week of the rank changes, it was an error designed to happen.

[Tankertrashnav]

Sorry to hear that Ian. At present bullion prices there is about £12 worth of silver in a typical medal, so that is the maximum amount HMG has saved by the decision to have them plated - all other manufacturing and distribution costs will be around the same, regardless of metal used.

Pathetic!

[Oldlae]

Re the post about the Whirlwinds. I was in RAF Nicosia working on the UN Whirlwinds in January 1965, I am sure that we had XP301. I recall changing the engine prior to putting the Whirlwinds on HMS Triumph which was going to Borneo.

[threeputt]

TTN you may or may not know? but, the Hastings flight at Lindholme was unofficially known as 1066 Sqn.

Mr B it was, of course "Jacko" Jackson!

3P