RAF Sharjah
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.
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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
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
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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.
Laurence thanks for those links to the strips/airfields.
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!
Last edited by brakedwell; 14th Jan 2013 at 20:17.
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Masafi?
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.
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.
With roaming donkeys, rising ground and boulders at each end of the strip the makings an accident were ever present.
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Masafi?
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.
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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?
Laurence
Laurence
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Masafi?
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?
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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?
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?
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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
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
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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.
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.
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Dibba
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.
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.
This photo of XM 939 was taken at Al Khatt in 1960.
Last edited by brakedwell; 7th Jul 2017 at 15:26.