"I'm sorry for losing your aeroplane, sir."
The Cooler King
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"I'm sorry for losing your aeroplane, sir."
Short video of Sultan Qaboos of Oman...some of the old codgers on here will know the pilot and the back story to this. (Hope the Dropbox link works)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/agz0spqu4p...cnfew.mp4?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/agz0spqu4p...cnfew.mp4?dl=0
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The Sultan seems to have taken it very well. More concern for the pilot than the airframe, anyway.
In my time there, there were several aircraft losses that I remember.
A Strikemaster that got in a flat spin during a test flight. Pilot ejected safely.
A Hunter T bird that went off the end at Thumrait. Pilot and engineer killed.
A Jaguar that blew up on the ranges. Pilot ejected with minor injuries.
A Huey that tipped over on take off near a village in the jebels. One child pax killed.
This was 1976 to 79.
I guess this may be the Strikie or Jag pilot.
A Strikemaster that got in a flat spin during a test flight. Pilot ejected safely.
A Hunter T bird that went off the end at Thumrait. Pilot and engineer killed.
A Jaguar that blew up on the ranges. Pilot ejected with minor injuries.
A Huey that tipped over on take off near a village in the jebels. One child pax killed.
This was 1976 to 79.
I guess this may be the Strikie or Jag pilot.
If it was around 1983, then I popped over to MAM hospital shortly after the event to take refreshments and offer solicitations. His Majesty certainly looks as I remember him from that era...
Gentleman Aviator
The very same one JENKINS old fruit.
And picked up by an Old Uppinghamian IIRC, from a squadron run by an Old Etonian.
And picked up by an Old Uppinghamian IIRC, from a squadron run by an Old Etonian.
A Jaguar that blew up on the ranges. Pilot ejected with minor injuries.
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JENKINS - the Uppinghamian was a Balliol man I think, but the Etonian was Cambridge - can't recall the college. The Harrovian was probably old-style (Flight Cadet) Cranwell.
SOAF then seems to have been a bit posh, there was also an OMT (Old Merchant Taylor) Strikie who subsequently did quite well: how on earth did ruffians like thee and me flourish there???
Have just realised from the OP - we are indeed "old Codgers"; 'twas about 45 years ago we were there......
SOAF then seems to have been a bit posh, there was also an OMT (Old Merchant Taylor) Strikie who subsequently did quite well: how on earth did ruffians like thee and me flourish there???
Have just realised from the OP - we are indeed "old Codgers"; 'twas about 45 years ago we were there......
Not really minor, he had serious burns to his face and hands. The bomb exploded under his wing, hot metal tore through the oxy system and the cockpit was a sheet of flame. His initial response was to put his hands to his face, and you could see the shape of his fingers which protected the skin in places. Then he took one hand away to pull the handle of the Martin Baker Departure Lounge. During the parachute descent, he wondered at the long strips hanging from his hands - thought it might be his flying gloves, but it was strips of barbecued skin...
Heard a story that his sons on school hols were in the butts watching. Asked if they would like to go and see dad in hospital by helicopter, they said they wanted to see the wreckage of the Jag instead.
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OMT
Yes, didn't he do well. I had reached my limit at that stage. An exact contemporary from my college, of your Royal Air Force acquaintance also Teeters, did quite well, his limit appears to have been Liberal Front Bench in Lords. Our Strikie chum who leapt over the side seems to have found his niche in arranging package tours at a high level.
Last edited by JENKINS; 10th May 2020 at 16:30.
Dixi asked:
Yes, he moved to Oz and flew Mirages with the RAAF. In civilian life, he took up hot-air balloons - he said it was a massive change, in one life he takes off from one place, flies at Mach 2, and lands back at the same place every time. In the next life, he takes off, flies at Mach 0, and never lands at the same place he took off from!
Did he recover to fly again?
Gentleman Aviator
Our Strikie chum who leapt over the side seems to have found his niche in arranging package tours at a high level.
I had a drink with him and a couple of other SOAF chums about a year ago in the Running Horse. Of course, none of us had aged at all (but that was before both my cataract operations!!).
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I witnessed this accident. The aim of the exercise was to demonstrate laser target marking, on Rubqhut Range, to a group of fairly senior Omanis. After watching several targets, usually old trucks, destroyed by accurately-delivered 500lb bombs from the Jaguars, there was a slightly different sounding explosion from above. I looked up to see a Jaguar disintegrating in flames and a parachute developing, almost alongside it. The VIP helicopter (725), flown by Ke.. Sm... (RIP) beat me to the scene of the crash, with CSOAF in the passenger seat. My passenger was the Salalah Station Commander (Ma... B..) and, as we landed next to the Jag pilot, I recall that he was standing next to his parachute, with his bonedome in his hand. We followed 725 to Salalah to the Force Base Hospital, and then returned to Rubqhut where CSOAF informed my passenger that, despite having witnessed the crash, he was to be President of the Board of Enquiry!
The Jag pilot was in hospital about 25 minutes after ejecting. However, when we went to visit him that evening, his first words to me were "what took you so f....ng long to reach me?" I met him again, about two years later, at a neighbours house at Valley and he had no recollection of having made that remark or of my visit. Glad that he went on to enjoy life.
BTW, there were no expat civilians present, as far as I recall!
The Jag pilot was in hospital about 25 minutes after ejecting. However, when we went to visit him that evening, his first words to me were "what took you so f....ng long to reach me?" I met him again, about two years later, at a neighbours house at Valley and he had no recollection of having made that remark or of my visit. Glad that he went on to enjoy life.
BTW, there were no expat civilians present, as far as I recall!
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"SOAF then seems to have been a bit posh, there was also an OMT (Old Merchant Taylor) Strikie who subsequently did quite well: how on earth did ruffians like thee and me flourish there???"
Having followed Teeteringhead to Salalah, a few years later, it is my recollection that there was no shortage of ruffians and that most seemed to thrive!
Having followed Teeteringhead to Salalah, a few years later, it is my recollection that there was no shortage of ruffians and that most seemed to thrive!
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"Culture Club"
As for swinging on the ceiling fans, the odd shot at the cinema screen and the first formal dinner night and the rolls....well, we were a very restrained group!