RAF Sharjah
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Knole Somerset
Age: 78
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Sharjah
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
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Wiltshire
Age: 79
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Kalba.
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.
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!
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!!
'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.
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!
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!!
Join Date: May 2007
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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!
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Australia
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Al Khatt
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.........
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.
Join Date: Jan 2012
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Al Khatt
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!
Cannot remember the eggs!
The Cooler King
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: In the Desert
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They've named water after the area now.....
There is also Tanuf water....just a bit further along by Jebel Shams.
There is also Tanuf water....just a bit further along by Jebel Shams.
Last edited by Farrell; 27th Jan 2013 at 12:32.
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And this is what the old village of Tanuf looks like now, after the 1958 Jebel Akhdar "war", much of it conducted from Sharjah.
Laurence
Laurence
Last edited by l.garey; 27th Jan 2013 at 12:44.
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
YouTube
The Cooler King
Join Date: Feb 2004
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
Last edited by Capot; 1st Feb 2013 at 18:10.
