RAF Sharjah
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Wiltshire
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RAF personnel
Don't forget me! End of May '65 to beginning of May '66(actually spent a month at Muharraq before being posted to Sharjah) - Station Workshops(Carpenters Shop) i/c "Fred the Fox" Anybody remember his little pen outside the 'chippy' shop?
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Sharjah, UAE
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Wow. All you guys are amazing 
So glad this forum was available allowing you'll to share memories of flying in the Gulf. I'll post some pics later in the day of stuff you'll might remember from flying to/from RAF Sharjah. Off to school now
So glad this forum was available allowing you'll to share memories of flying in the Gulf. I'll post some pics later in the day of stuff you'll might remember from flying to/from RAF Sharjah. Off to school now
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Kent
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Sharjah late Sixties
I am encourage to return to Sharjah to see the Museum. I only visited the base to find I. A. Radio office.
In Siseman's photograph of the main street, I think Shell Hydrocarbons used the building behind where the man is standing in the street. I purchased some gold jewelry from a shop on the left.
My time in Sharjah and the VC 10 crews can be for another thread.
Mearns Loon
In Siseman's photograph of the main street, I think Shell Hydrocarbons used the building behind where the man is standing in the street. I purchased some gold jewelry from a shop on the left.
My time in Sharjah and the VC 10 crews can be for another thread.
Mearns Loon
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Ah, the Souk was the place to go for gold! Sheik Robbie had the best selection and best prices, once you'd haggled all afternoon! Somewhere on that main street was Abdul's fried chicken restaurant and the 4 Candles (or was it 5?) which was a bit more up-market in those days.
Join Date: Jan 2012
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Sheik Robbie
Remember Sheik Robbie very well and haggling with him over many bottles of cold fanta! Still have my gold cuff links from him after 45 years. Excellent quality. Does anybody remember the camp tailor? Measured in the afternoon full kit provided-including mess kit-the following morning now that is what I call service
Sheik Robbie (or was it Rhobbi or Robbhi):
Just about every trip I did down to Sharjah from Muharraq which was at least once a week, I had to go and visit Sheik Robbie to chase up orders that had been made from people back in Bahrain.
I always enjoyed going down to see him. The quality of his gold and silversmiths was outstanding and anyone who has a Sheik Robbie gold kunjah is a very lucky person.
I also used to enjoy watching the dhow builders. It was explained to me that there were no plans or diagrams. The basic plot was handed down from father to son and the whole thing was originally marked out on the sand.
Wood was scarce and none of it was wasted. Every available usable piece was incorporated in the bulid and some of it didn't fit too well by modern standards.
As I remember it, all the gaps and holes were filled by various bits of cloth and tar and then the whole hull was sunk in the creek for two weeks to allow for everything to expand and become water tight.
The resulting product was quite able to go to sea and go as far as Dar-as-Salaam.
Just about every trip I did down to Sharjah from Muharraq which was at least once a week, I had to go and visit Sheik Robbie to chase up orders that had been made from people back in Bahrain.
I always enjoyed going down to see him. The quality of his gold and silversmiths was outstanding and anyone who has a Sheik Robbie gold kunjah is a very lucky person.
I also used to enjoy watching the dhow builders. It was explained to me that there were no plans or diagrams. The basic plot was handed down from father to son and the whole thing was originally marked out on the sand.
Wood was scarce and none of it was wasted. Every available usable piece was incorporated in the bulid and some of it didn't fit too well by modern standards.
As I remember it, all the gaps and holes were filled by various bits of cloth and tar and then the whole hull was sunk in the creek for two weeks to allow for everything to expand and become water tight.
The resulting product was quite able to go to sea and go as far as Dar-as-Salaam.
Dhows
Thanks Jock, you have just reminded me of a dhow misadventure!
My nav and I were invited to a farewell bash for the departing TOS adjutant. As it was mid winter lounge suits were to be worn. When we arrived at the TOS officers mess in downtown Sharjah they told us the party was going to be held on a dhow, which had been chartered from Dubai. We were ferried out in small boats and set sail after about an hour of bobbing up and down 100yds from the beach
I remember feeling cold, but large helpings of curry and a ready supply of drinks soon warmed us all up. Then the wind started to rise, so the dhow captain slipped anchor and headed out to sea. Before long the dhow was pitching and rolling violently. Half of the guests succombed to sea sickness and the fit ones amongst us moved aft and continued drinkng, but by the early hours everyone had had enough and the dhow turned back towards Sharjah in an increasingly angry sea. The captain refused to sail in close to the beach as he was unfamiliar with the depths. After a lot of torch flashing and ineffective shouting one of the small boats appeared through the darkness. When the captain announced he was going to disembark the remaining guests on a jetty near Dubai Colonel Carter insisted the Twin Pin crew went ashore in the small boat as they were due to fly him to Manama at 0900!
We managed to board it without falling into the oggin and chugged back towards the TOS mess. A very large wave soon knocked out the outboard motor, then two more finished us off and we were forced to swim for the shore.
We were driven, shivering, to our accomodation at RAF Sharjah in an open TOS landrover. Before going to bed I hung my soggy lounge suit on the washing line outside our rooms and it dried out overnight, but it also changed colour to duck egg green at the back and a salty whitish grey on the front. (While hanging around at Manama I was told the seating and woodwork on the dhow had been painted green a few hours before out trip and it had not had time to dry). On the following morning Col Carter only just made his flight and I retired my only suit!
My nav and I were invited to a farewell bash for the departing TOS adjutant. As it was mid winter lounge suits were to be worn. When we arrived at the TOS officers mess in downtown Sharjah they told us the party was going to be held on a dhow, which had been chartered from Dubai. We were ferried out in small boats and set sail after about an hour of bobbing up and down 100yds from the beach
I remember feeling cold, but large helpings of curry and a ready supply of drinks soon warmed us all up. Then the wind started to rise, so the dhow captain slipped anchor and headed out to sea. Before long the dhow was pitching and rolling violently. Half of the guests succombed to sea sickness and the fit ones amongst us moved aft and continued drinkng, but by the early hours everyone had had enough and the dhow turned back towards Sharjah in an increasingly angry sea. The captain refused to sail in close to the beach as he was unfamiliar with the depths. After a lot of torch flashing and ineffective shouting one of the small boats appeared through the darkness. When the captain announced he was going to disembark the remaining guests on a jetty near Dubai Colonel Carter insisted the Twin Pin crew went ashore in the small boat as they were due to fly him to Manama at 0900!
We managed to board it without falling into the oggin and chugged back towards the TOS mess. A very large wave soon knocked out the outboard motor, then two more finished us off and we were forced to swim for the shore.
We were driven, shivering, to our accomodation at RAF Sharjah in an open TOS landrover. Before going to bed I hung my soggy lounge suit on the washing line outside our rooms and it dried out overnight, but it also changed colour to duck egg green at the back and a salty whitish grey on the front. (While hanging around at Manama I was told the seating and woodwork on the dhow had been painted green a few hours before out trip and it had not had time to dry). On the following morning Col Carter only just made his flight and I retired my only suit!
Last edited by brakedwell; 30th Mar 2013 at 10:57.
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Lucky French Comfort Delivery.
In 1954, I was on 79 Fighter Reconnaissance Squadron in Germany. My Flight Commander P.W. (ex Cranwell) apparently was previously a very young C.O of RAF Sharjah. Very few personnel were stationed there. It was before Oil was discovered. I think the airfield runway might even have been of sand ? They seldom had any aircraft landing there ?
Anyway, one day a DC3 (on one engine) was seen descending into the circuit unannounced. It landed & PW and some mechanics drove out to it.
It proved to be a French Air Force aircraft. The captain was asked where he had been flying to before he got into trouble & decided to divert to Sharjah.
Apparently, it was flying to a French Foreign Legion base somewhere - with a full load of French Prostitutes !!
PW quietly says to his sergeant i/c maintenance, "This aircraft will not be fit to fly for a week- understood ?!!". "Yes Sir !!".
Although everyone was sworn to keep the incident quiet, it soon had spread throughout the RAF.
I´m told that Paul was the last member of his course at Cranwell to get promoted to Squadron Leader because of this !!? He was last heard of strumming his guitar around the worlds sunny sexy flesh spots ???
Anyway, one day a DC3 (on one engine) was seen descending into the circuit unannounced. It landed & PW and some mechanics drove out to it.
It proved to be a French Air Force aircraft. The captain was asked where he had been flying to before he got into trouble & decided to divert to Sharjah.
Apparently, it was flying to a French Foreign Legion base somewhere - with a full load of French Prostitutes !!
PW quietly says to his sergeant i/c maintenance, "This aircraft will not be fit to fly for a week- understood ?!!". "Yes Sir !!".
Although everyone was sworn to keep the incident quiet, it soon had spread throughout the RAF.
I´m told that Paul was the last member of his course at Cranwell to get promoted to Squadron Leader because of this !!? He was last heard of strumming his guitar around the worlds sunny sexy flesh spots ???
Legend had it that the aircraft type was a Languedoc , which was on it's way to French Indo China (Vietnam) with a load of troop comforts when it diverted into Sharjah with technical problem. The ladies of the night were more than willing to indulge in a bit of practice while they waited for the aircraft to be fixed.
I also have a vague memory of a Royal Navy minesweeper boarding a dhow as it was suspected of people smuggling. They took the dhow on tow and set sail for Sharjah. Unfortunately they went too fast and pulled the front off the dhow which then sank with loss of life.