U.A.E. perhaps, Dubai?

Jeez Mg - that's some change in Aeon - I took the photo I posted in 1996 when on a UK monitoring visit

Well if Max Tow hasn't got it with DXB I guess perhaps that this is SHJ (Sharjah) and that you were probably about to depart to Afghanistan?

However 0924 (a.m) camera timing must be set for elsewhere - probably an Australian time zone - say typically Canberra - giving a time at Sharjah of 0224 a.m.

Back online after a restful night.

I did mean to crop out the camera time as it may have caused some confusion. Too late now.

the aircraft was operated by Daallo but Max probably knows that.

Sorry folks - while waiting patiently for the 24 hour rule clock to tick over the internet (and SMS and lots of other things) went off line here in paradise. just back now and I will confirm Max T has it with Dubai. We were headed to Kandahar for an inspection.

All yours Max.

Now to tackle a 28 hour backlog of emails (mainly jokes as it is the weekend) but first maybe a read of this morning's paper.
MJG.

Thanks MG - I see that aircraft, if it's S9-SAO, came to a sad end the following year. Hopefully nothing to do with the clear liquid breakfast.

Here's something for the weekend from soggy SYD:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....62efe7ffb.jpeg
In the beginning...

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7de0b2fe9.jpeg

Mingaladon Burma?

P2 Palembang Sumatra?
based on the lucky find that this might be the same aircraft?

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....cde0e49fe.jpeg

Two "rights" on the East of Suez guesses but two "wrongs" on suggested locations. And therein lies a clue.
Slightly later photos....

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0fcc356c3.jpeg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....169e75f73.jpeg

SE Asia? could be Malaya

To the East of Suez and ex-Empire, but not Malaya.
The airfield has changed its name since above photos taken - both named after former top men in the neighbourhood.
By the way,SLB's Hurricane has a somewhat different paint scheme (note the tail tricolour height and letter nearer to roundel) and is not the one shown.
Oh, and just to confuse, the current main runway is neither of the marked pair on my carefully cropped map. Photo below looks down old and across new.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....74c9a0a9c.jpeg
Same but current view as original photo

Sri Lanka?

Not Sri Lanka

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3c3668681.jpeg

Are we in The Philippines ? Briefly part of 'The Empire'

Not Philippines, and you've left the ocean. A couple of clues before I sign off which should hopefully get you there - a modern shot and visitors in 1940.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....804a040ca.jpeg

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ae947d568.jpeg

Sub-continent perhaps?

Tengah - Singapore?

Good morning from sunny SYD!
Sorry, again two rights on the ocean and two wrongs on the location.
As mentioned, you'll find it East of Suez after some degrees and before the magnificent wonders of the Far East.
Those aircraft in the last photo would not be found in any other theatre, but you're right, the Luftwaffe wasn't the adversary.
Here's a photo of the area now after take-off

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....be50d3e0a.jpeg

I know Pondicherry was a French colony (I'm guessing they're French aircraft of some type in the second last photo) so could it be that fantastically named city?

No, not a French colony and I think Asturias already got a "nul points" with that general area.
You are right to pick up on my uncharacteristically lavish wording in the last clue, which may have numerical connotations for the guidance of a navigator.

p.s. to jensdad: There is indeed a French connection on the bomber aircraft in the photo, but perhaps not in the way you intended.
In case you're unfamiliar, they have dependable engines!

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....70aa071dc.jpeg

Crazy stab - but Shackletons and Ju 86s - are we in South Africa?

Not at all crazy but no to SA. The Shack is ex UK but you're getting much warmer. The Ju 86 is a crucial I.D. so have a quick dig before the northern hemisphere sleuths log on? I need the airfield's name in 1940.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e28d53bb7.jpeg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....38585194c.jpeg
Crew room photo 1940

Mauritius? Doesn't look right..................

Not sure of the airfield's name in 1940, but as the RAF like to name bases after the area the guardroom is situated in, I'm guessing something like RAF Kipevu (suburb of Mombasa) (or was it a RNAS as the FAA used it as a land base of the British Eastern Fleet?).

Well done SB! I think you meant HMS Kipanga, which was the co-located naval air station, but Mombasa is spot on so take a bow.

I was actually after RAF Port Reitz (named after the 19th century commissioner Lieutenant J.J. Reitz), now Moi International (after the former President of Kenya).

The airfield was established early during WW2 by the South African forces in preparation for the successful but little known conflict with Italy in the Horn of Africa. The airfield was home to Furies, Gladiators & Hurricanes, together with detachments from 12 Sqn and 34 Coastal Reconnaissance Flight, operating Junkers 86Z aircraft.

As an aside,19 Ju86 passenger aircraft were ordered by the allegedly pro-Nazi Defence Minister Oswald Pirow for South African Airways before the war, together with one Ju86K bomber, and the former were hurriedly converted for military use as war loomed. After SA decided to enter the war alongside Britain, the aircraft began coastal patrols in support of the RN base in Cape Town before some were moved to Kenya, where there was a further Ju86 base at Nanyuki.

The "French connection" noted in response to Jensdad's guess alluded to Ju86 ZS-ALN 650. In 1941 this aircraft became lost in a storm over Ethiopia and was forced to land in Djibouti, where the aircraft was impounded by the Vichy French and used as a transport with Junkers support, until returned to the SAAF in 1944 and broken up for spares. Apparently the use of German aircraft could cause confusion - on 31 Oct 1940, a Ju86 carrying the S.A. Prime Minister and C in C Gen.Jan Smuts and the British Commanding Officer East Africa, Gen.Alan Cunningham, was attacked and almost shot down by SAAF Furies based at Archers Post in northern Kenya after failing to give the required recognition signal.

The above mentioned SAAF unit emblems are visible in the crew room photo, including 3 Sqn's "Fighting Wasps."

'The Hurricane (I.D. letter is actually Q not O) pictured was from 3 Sqn SAAF.Following the move north by the South African units, the RAF base was shared during the war and after by the Royal Navy in support of carrier borne aircraft from the Indian Ocean fleet using Kilindini harbour.

The airport was extensively redeveloped in the 1970s, with a new runway. In addition to the activities as Kenya's second international airport, the base hosts air force units, including those pictured from the USAF - the C5s and C141s pictured in the early 1990s for relief operations "Provide Relief" and "Support Hope" in Somalia.

My sadly failed clues were: the repeated mention of "two rights" (=Reitz) and the words "magnificent" and "wonders" in connection with degrees East of Suez were intended to suggest the number "7" , which is the number of degrees that Port Reitz/Mombasa lies east of Suez. The"dependable engines" remark referred to the P&W Hornets on the SAA Ju 86s.

All yours, SB...

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e2379b927.jpeg
Moi International

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d08779a2c.jpeg
RAF?RNAS Port Reitz

Thanks Max Tow, again without nipping up into the loft I have nothing too old but here's one from the turn of the 21st Century
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4c45882e04.jpg

Is it North America - One of those 'Graveyard' Airfields ?

Definitely not on in the Americas

that was good challenge Max :ugh:

Is this one Africa perhaps?

Central Asia (including Afghanistan) ?

It's somewhere in between (although Afghanistan was just a corridor away).

Pre or post 9/11?

Talking about a corridor away points to N/W Pakistan but I'm not sure when the Americans managed to obtain facilities there post 9/11. I'm going to go for Kulob Airport in Southern Tadjikistan . Looks suitably run down. ( 3000 metre runway) and is that an American C17 wing?

The picture was taken in Dec 01 so very much in the time of the outfall from 9/11. Still a little far north OUAQUKGF Ops, the Boulevard (the corridor mentioned) ran from the Arabian Sea/Gulf of Oman to the south of Afghanistan. Here's a picture looking the other way down the runway but still standing north of the runway. ps yes was a C17 wing but he was just a visitor.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2df7b1ce60.jpg

Is it Seeb (Muscat) Oman?

Nimrod on the left.

Whats that in the background ? Greyhound ?

If it's a Skyvan that increases the probability of Seeb, but I'm unconvinced. Those hills look very familiar, though.

No, with those 4 fins it's a Greyhound. They and Nimrod MR2/R1 were based in Muscat during Enduring Freedom/Operation Veritas in Dec 2001 so I'd tend to go along with OUAQUKGF's Seeb guess.

RAF Herc. as well....