Prof. Hans Hass and the RAF
 

In an ealier thread about the denomination of Chaplains in the forces mention was made in passing to "Hans and Lotte".

This brought back memories because I was stationed ar RAF Gan when Prof. Hass visited in 1957/58 and during his visit he was very friendly towards the personnel based there in the early days as Gan was being built as a future staging post to the Far East. so back to my narrative.

Hans & Lotte Hass

When we heard on the grapevine that the renowned diver and oceanographer Professor Hans Hass and his schooner was visiting Gan we sex-starved young airmen who hadn't seen a white woman for months were all agog, mainly because we hoped to catch sight of Lotte, Hans' glamorous and eye-catching young wife, but unfortunately (for us) she was at home in Vienna having just given birth to their first child together, a girl called Meta Xarifa. (Lotte was his second wife, Hans already had a son by his first wife Hannelore).

Anyway Hans Hass had organized an underwater filming expedition to the Maldives aboard his schooner Xarifa. He anchored off Gan in Addu Atoll aboard his schooner on 21st December 1957.

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Schooner Xarifa

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During his visit to Gan he talked to an attentive RAF audience about reef diving as seen above. On Professor Hass' immediate right is Mr Alex Smith (Air Ministry Works Department and liasion officer with the airfield contractors Constains) and next to him S/Ldr Roy A Schofield, CO RAF Gan 1957 to early 1958.

The result of his filming expedition was 26 30-minute episodes about the underwater life of the Indian Ocean including the Atolls of the Maldives "Travellers Tales: The Undersea World Of Adventure"), shown first on the BBC and then on TV around the world between 1959 and 1962.
He later published a book about his Maldives expedition titled "Expedition into the Unknown" (Hutchinson).

He departed north to film further reefs and atolls in the Maldives on 8th February 1958. He afterwards travelled east to dive on the Nicobar Islands, but after difficulties with the Indian authorities (the Indians kept the Nicobar Islands strictly off-limits to foreigners) he went on to Singapore arriving in October 1958, where he left Xarifa in the care of 37 Water Transport Company of the Royal Army Service Corps (for two years!).
Eventually it was sold to an Italian industrialist and sailed back to Europe. The vessel is still around, home port Monaco, where she leads the life of a luxury yacht.

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Hans and Lotte Hass

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With her striking good looks Lotte appeared regularly on the covers of magazines as seen here on the UK magazine "Illustrated".

Both Hans and Lotte are still around. Hans is 91 and Lotte 82.

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This is a recent photo of Hans and Lotte together with their daughter Meta Xarifa, Meta's birth in 1957 was the reason why we didn't meet Lotte at RAF Gan in 1957/58.

Whilst I was in Monaco in 2006 I made a vist to the schooner Xarifa which is based there and owned by a wealthy industrialist. See photos below.

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Very interesting! I just remember the original series. very groundbreaking stuff for a UK that was still very unworldly. There was a wildlife couple who did the equivalent with animals, Armand and Michaela Dennis- remember them? Was that 'Clarence the Cross Eyed Lion' thing taking the mickey out of them? I think Monty Python used to.

Warmtoast,
Thanks for posting some historic photographs. My first set of dive gear (mask, fins & snorkel) was "System Hans Hass" by Siebe Gorman. His TV show probably did more to promote the BSAC and SCUBA dving in the UK than anything else.