We had to guard our block of flats on the Maalla Straight at night. Can't remember whether it was all night, but it was a pain in the ar*se. We were rostered by the block commander, a Squadron Leader Education Officer from Steamer Point, who was not fit to carry a catapult. The block had one Smith and Wesson 38 revolver with five rounds of ancient 1940's vintage bullets, which would have struggled to reach the end of the barrel when the trigger was pulled. I spent a lot of time away on the Argosy, but still had to complete my number of guard duties when I returned home. Our esteemed block commander had a near miss one night when he mistook a Cameronian night Patrol for a terrorist assault and fired the said revolver into the darkness from car parking area on the ground floor of the flats. Fortunately it was lit up, so the patrol saw him plainly and did not retaliate.

I have to agree Dougie, the Stirling every time. I didn't drive in those days, so when JOG, some poor driver was detailed. At least it meant the Stirling was ready for use. IIRC, it could be loaded and cocked, then the safety catch applied?

Bugis Street was pretty harmless, as long as you looked after your wallet. :cool:

However, during my time there was a bit of 'local unrest'. One one occasion I was driving back from Nee Soon Range with half a dozen .22 rifles in the back of my roof-less Sprite when I encountered a small mob in one of the villages on the way. A quick 'pedal to the metal' resolved the situation!

Speak for yourself :eek:

SMG yes, but a Browning M2 Machine Gun or whatever they mounted on Land Rovers in those days! Sounds a lethal combination. As for the GSM, I was referring to the fact that the Captain, unless he had a previous qualifying appointment between 1962 and the day would not have been entitled on day one or indeed week one.

Not that easy. I can picture the theft even now.

The drunken officer on 44, whose name escapes me, was sufficiently alert to place his wallet on the table rather than a pocket. Placed one hand over wallet, second hand over first, and head on both hands.

The good news was the locals were so annoyed with the young tealeaf (about 12) that they caught him, leathered him, and returned the wallet.

The other danger, to which Brakewell no doubt alluded, was faulty target recognition. A risk now present in Aden.

Well, if I may continue to digress, there was the occasion when a group of us took a newly-arrived chap from 45 Sqn to Bugis Street for his first night out. He had been cautioned in detail about looking after his valuables. As soon as we parked, we were surrounded by a bunch of the local lasses. He held on to his valuables, they grabbed hold of his other valuables, and in the blink of an eye ... we had to buy him food and drink for the rest of the evening. Fortunately his F1250 was in a different location.

There was a strange morality down there. Our group always used the same little makan place (Hi, Mick, if you're still around). We got known to the local crew, including assorted Shims, and were not seen as potential clients. But 'Christine' occasionally sat and joined us for a chat, and even stood his own round of beers. Funny old place!

I arrived in K´sar May 1966 and departed brokenhearted on Oct. 22nd 1967.
My time there was made less unpleasant by regular detachments to Sharjah, occasionally to Bahrain and one short but memorable one to Majunga (thank you Mr. Smith).
The link below is a copy of the Aden Closure Op Order which may be of interest to some readers. Thanks to ex comrades of 37Sqn Chris Dance and Dave Mcandless.


Khormaksar rundown and withdrawal plans

I have fond memories! Witness this photo taken of one of the "Ladyboys" looking for custom.


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...psfjlvaxdv.jpg

I was in Bugis Street with my (Britannia) crew when the comedian Dave Allen asked to join us after his guides, a couple of QANTAS stewards, had gone back to their hotel. He was on his way to OZ and was having a short break in Singapore. It was a very amusing night with no noughts and crosses!

Shack37.

Interesting Op Order. Didn't quite work out that way though, did it?
"Total RAF complement remaining on 31st December is estimated at 350." AFAIK, nobody was there after independence; 30th November. Brave men if they were.
What is a specially equipped Wessex 10, which will take on IS duties? My logbook shows I flew a night IS sortie from "Intrepid" on 25th November, and that was a Wessex 2.

As I believe MacMillan said "events dear boy, events"

As I read it, the Op Order text includes some of the changes that "events" forced upon us. For example, I was there on 105 Sqn (Argosies) for which the original plan was a move to Muharraq at the end of 1967, with a reduction to 6AE and a Sqn Ldr command. I did a ferry back to the UK at the end of June 67, shortly after the Crater revolt. I got back around 21 July to discover that local events had brought the move forward, with some aircraft and crews already gone, and that I should pack and clear my room as I was going on the next day. As I recall, that was just the start of an early rundown and redeployment of Khormaksar-based aircraft.

For anyone who has been following the TV series "The Last Post", there is a thread going on History and Nostalgia. After lots of discussion of the VC10 in the opening sequence, I contacted the film company. This might interest some people. A bit of trickery.

https://www.facebook.com/blackginger...pu-xNg&fref=nf

Clever stuff.

I arrived at Khormaksar in April 1966 and at the time the clasp 'South Arabia' for the GSM had not been authorised, this did not happen until around June or July as I recall, at which time we were all able to put the ribbon up. We did have one officer on our squadron who already had the GSM, possibly for Borneo, and he already wore the ribbon on his bush jacket.

Those Lightnings definitely look fake don't they. The roundels are too big as well, and slightly too far forward. Plus, they're in low-viz grey, yet the programme is set in the '60s; they should have been silver! And how would they taxi on that dusty, rutted surface?

Agreed, Lord Riot. Don't forget though that they were making a drama and most things like that pass the average viewer by. Generally, having seen two episodes, not a bad series. The Dhala Road; I'm glad that got a mention. Somewhere in among my collection of squadron, aircraft etc ties, I think there is a Dhala Road one. IIRC, three diagonal stripes Light brown for the desert, blue for the sky, and in between grey for the road.

In the early 50s Khormaksar's roads, runways and movement areas were packed gypsum. We had a rain shower one year and surfaces became slippery for all of 10 minutes until they dried out. Brigands, Varsities, the occasional Hastings, Aden/Ethiopian Airways Daks, BOAC Argonauts and Hermes, and elegant TWA Constellations often trailed a plume of dust as they became airborne.

Thanks Jenkins, Valetta it was, memory tricks again. In our time this chubby product of Vickers was always referred to as a Pig. :hmm:

https://s20.postimg.org/6tkftgwdp/Hastings_Khormak.jpg

Early 1953 and Geriaviator checks over his Hastings for next day's long trip home. In fact it was two days, we night stopped at (I think) Castel Benito. Resident Pig in background. Back to freezing England at Lyneham, then a night at the old Navy transit camp at Clyffe Pypard, then five months in the ghastly camp at Croft near Warrington. I see from Google that the site with its wartime single-skin brick huts has been cleared to become a housing estate.

Noticed the Argosy (hurrah for 105 !) but no serial numbers on the tail and a poor attempt at Kenya Cold, frozen chickens (turkey - yes it was ) in plastic picnic boxes, that's not the way I remember it from our runs, Paul H (105 Sqn 62-64)

I guess CGI again, but someone else can ask this time. If they're delivering to HQ, which seems to be in Aden itself, that should have been Khormaksar.

Aden....what a dump!
 

I know the Aden program (The Last Post) has been criticised for irrelevant medal ribbons. But I was in Aden for two years 65/67 and was one of the very last servicemen to leave Steamer Point. In its' defence I find the program is spooky and worryingly realistic. It fills me with the same sinking feeling of discomfort I had the whole time I was there. The scenes are IMO entirely accurate and exactly as I remember the place.. The only thing missing is the smell of camels! I expect the next episode will have a wife dangling by rope off a balcony in Maala or the laundry basket exploding having had a jumping jack mine planted within. :eek: Bloody awful place and without doubt the ar@sehole of the World.

Dundigin'. I agree with you. I was also there to the end. If you were airlifted out by RAF Wessex, it could have been me. Yes, the series is frighteningly realistic, within the bounds of having to produce drama. You probably saw my posts regarding how the VC10 scene was produced. Clever stuff. Of course, South Africa could never be Aden as was (thank goodness), and to recreate Khormaksar for a few scenes would have been very expensive, and not worth it for the average viewer.

I thought the scenes where the RMP officers entered dens of iniquity were wholly improbable. Likewise the exposure of the journalist in a Muslim den.

Not so sure Pontius. The young Squaddie going in, and the female journalist, yes, but the officer in civvies? Lots of odd things happened in Aden, as in any war zone (sorry, police action), but I suspect not so soon after arrival, and he would have a bit more about him, like a knowledge of Arabic. Shukran, Effendi.

If these "dens" were in Crater they would have been too dangerous to visit at that time. Last Post lost the plot with the arrival of the glamorous American reporter. TBH I was waiting for a bomb or hand grenade at the BP Club, much more realistic, but it never happened.

I remember a grenade being thrown by an Arab waiter during a Steamer Point Officers Mess dining in night. When it landed on the table everyone dived to the floor. The only injury was a WRAF Officer, who was a bit slow and ended up with shrapnel in her derrier :eek:

Was there too, 64-66. Dad was a pongo at 15 Sigs Regt, Khormaksar. I remember school bus runs from Maala with a squaddie on board. Northumberland Fusiliers. I travelled in a signals despatch LandRover from Little Aden to Khormaksar... real adventure for a five year old. Dad used to exceed 90 hours per week in the Comcen, then take his turn on stag outside our flats, with SLR + 10 rounds. I remember being sternly warned to not pick anything up for obvious reasons. I still vividly recall the enormous whoosh and bang as an RPG type weapon was fired at the red Sea Hotel, next to the first flats we lived in which were called Elbaz Buildings. Then we moved to Maala, to a block called Columbo A or B. Arsehole of the world ? No, I say not so. It was what you made of it and we had a fantastic time in spite of the security situation. Such as all heading out to Elephant bay for a BBQ. I had to share my toys at Christmas, as we had a bunch of single lads at ours. It is tragic to see the state of the place now, and it isn't down to the locals either. They really had made something of the place, but somebody decided to start a war.

Brakedwell, it was suggestive of a bomb as the maid was warned to leave, then the missing son was a perfect excuse to get the principals away from they party while a few of the extras were blown up. Kidnapping the boy was entirely opportunistic.

That journalist would have been there at

Very late in the day, and tucked up in bed this morning with my tablet, waiting for my morning "cuppa", and looking for something to see on iPlayer, came across "Last Post", which I had never previously watched, being inherently allergic to 'Redcaps'. Now it struck me that, as this Thread seems to have strayed in that direction, that an input from Geriaviator (qv) might be a good idea, as he does not appear (after very cursory flick through nearly 500 Posts) to be aboard this Thread so far. But he is a busy man, so I've taken it upon myself ..........

Of course he's here ! Mea Culpa ! (Danny pleads Senile Decay)

After (predictably) drawing a blank with "Pilots Brevet - Search this Thread", I fell back on Google, which did the business and turned up these two 2013 Posts from Geriaviator. Now I am defying all normal conventions, and reprinting (without having previously asked his permission - but he is a good chap and I'm sure he won't mind) them in their entirety. I think that the majority will find them as hilarious as I did - and still do. (The first is necessary to fully understand the second).

And I beg the Moderater's infinite forbearance !

Danny.

Geriaviator.
19th Feb 2013, 12:56
https://s1.postimg.org/7yn7hgkr27/Dunera_and_75_W.jpg

RAF KHORMAKSAR in 1951 is a wonderful place for a precocious 10 year old, with lots of exciting things to discover, not least in the Medical Officer’s surgery which I am visiting for an ear infection. On the wall is a huge poster bearing the interesting legend: GUARD AGAINST VD!

“Mum, what’s VD?” I pipe up. “Just be thankful you haven’t got it, son, you’ll find out soon enough”, she replies. “Yes, but how can I guard against it if I don’t know what it is?” Mother looks imploringly at the MO, Flt Lt Powell, who has bowed his head and is shuffling papers on his desk. “That’s right, you don’t have to worry about it. It’s something that only affects grown ups”. “How do you catch it, sir?”, I persist. “Is it something like the flu? Why don’t children catch it? Do you get it at home, or just out here in Aden?” “Well, it’s not quite like flu, but you don’t need to worry, only grown ups catch it”. “Have you had it, sir?” I ask.

Then I notice that the MO is in some distress. His face has turned red, his eyes are watering and he has his hand over his mouth the way my little sister does when she’s going to throw up. That’s enough, says mum, show the doctor your sore ear. No swimming for another fortnight, he says, exchanging glances with my mother. There’s something going on here, I think, but there’s no further discussion as I am marched schoolwards at the double despite the heat that hits us like a wave as we emerge from the cool sick quarters.

Our house is on the corner of the married patch, overlooking the RAF school and only 50 yds away. This can be a mixed blessing, as my best friend David Brindley and I found last week when re-enacting She Wore a Yellow Ribbon after its premiere in the Astra Cinema. We gallop into our livingroom ahead of the Seventh Cavalry to find Miss Buckle our teacher has popped over for tea with my parents. Miss Buckle is very old, I overheard Mum tell Dad she was about 38. Like a cobra, she reacts instantly to any sudden movement by small boys and impales us with her basilisk stare before she remembers where she is and bares her teeth in a terrifying smile instead. It gives me quite a fright while David is so shaken he doesn’t come near our house for a week.

Mum leaves me to the classroom door, I slip into my seat and tell Miss Buckle that I won’t be able to swim in the school contest. “That’s a pity, is your ear still sore?” Yes miss, but mum says I should be thankful I haven’t got VD”. “She said WHAT?” I wilt under Miss Buckle’s terrifying glare, and fear I’ve said something wrong. “Please miss, it says about VD on the MO’s wall and when I asked him what it was he said it’s a grown up problem and I’m not to worry because children can’t catch it”.

Miss Buckle’s face turns red, her mouth twitches, she lifts her desk lid and rummages around inside it, head down. What’s wrong, I wonder? Miss Buckle is not well, maybe she has caught ... an awful possibility crosses my mind. I hope that Graham hasn’t caught one of the four-inch locusts that drift across from Ethiopia. He likes to hide one in her desk so it flies out with a mighty whirr when the desk is opened, because Miss Buckle gets very excited when this happens and while it’s most entertaining to watch in normal times we are in an unstable situation here. Robert pokes me in the back with a ruler and asks what it’s all about, while David is muttering something from across the aisle. We don’t notice Miss Buckle racing down the classroom until the crack of ruler on close cropped head and yelps of pain end further discussion.

When school ends at lunchtime we head for the pool and spend our afternoon discussing this mysterious illness. We can’t think of the answer ... but we know a man who can.
Tomorrow: our mystery deepens as the Khormaksar Kids fall under the icy shadow of the Cold War. :ooh:
c

Geriaviator
3rd Mar 2013, 16:44
https://s20.postimg.org/92s21sgbx/church.jpg

1. In the beginning the Lord created the Heavens and the Earth, and the light, and every living creature that moveth. And He created that place which is called, Aden; and for some it was heaven, and for some it was hell.

2. And the Lord created His servant which He called, Padre Ashe; and He made his servant’s voice of the booming thunder, and the people feared the voice for it boometh for many hours. Or so did it seem to the people.

3. And it came to pass that the Padre Ashe did summon to the House of the Lord all people that did dwell in the place that was called, Khormaksar. And the people did enter the House two by two and in their proper order: behold the Group Captain in his Great Headgear of Gold, his Officers, their Ladies, the Sergeants in their raiment of Best Blue, their wives, their Kids, and all manner of lesser creatures, yea, even onto the lowly Erks that did creep upon the airfield.

4. And the Lord’s servant Padre Ashe gazed upon the assembled multitude, and it was good in his eyes; and he boometh on and on and on and on before them, yea, even above the mighty blasts as of a brazen trumpet; for Flt Sgt Smith did partake of the juice of the grape the night before, and the mirth of the people did fall upon him as he slumbered.

5. Now the child Graham was of the Kids, yet not of the Kids, for he was of the Israelites and so attended not the Church Parade, and he did wander abroad that Lord’s Day morning. And lo, the devil appeareth before Graham and sheweth onto him that portal in the House which they calleth, Emergency Door. And the child Graham fell into temptation and did open that portal, and did place therein certain of the Lord’s creatures, that is to say, the locusts which destroyeth the land, and his great land crab which he had named, Abdul; and the child Graham closed that door and crept away as a thief in the night.

6. Then did the twenty and two locusts rise as one to perform low-level circuits at full boost and max revs, and the House was filled with the mighty whirring of their wings, and the Ladies cried out in their fear. And beneath them the great land crab which the child Graham had named, Abdul, did run across the bare toes of the Ladies, and they called out in their terror, and Mrs. Edwards did fall to the ground with the vapours.

7. Now the tumult awakened Flt Sgt Smith from his slumbers, and he cast his hymnal upon the great crab which was named, Abdul, and did smite him thereon: and in his alarm the great crab named, Abdul, did seize the toe of Mrs. Evans, and in her fear she leapt up and did spill the Communion wine upon her finest raiment of Dior white, and her cry of woe rose to the heavens, where all the while the twenty and two locusts did orbit in furious formation. And the Padre saith Behold, the plague of locusts is upon thee for thy sins, and the people milled about in disarray.

8. Then did the Padre’s voice of thunder arise above the tumult, saying, Suffer the little children. And the people replied, saying, Thou bet they will suffer. And the mummies and daddies seized the Kids by their necks and bore them from the House while in vain the Kids piteously cried out their innocence; for well the people kneweth whence came all pestilence in their midst.

9. And as the weeping Kids were borne past him, the Group Captain did turn from them his countenance, for it was red as of the setting sun, and his eyes watereth, and his hand was before his mouth, and he uttereth a gasping noise. And thereby the Kids did learn that the dread Russian plague of VD had fallen upon their station commander, for he guardeth not against it as the MO did warn.

10. And behold, the wrath of the Lord did fill the right arms of the daddies, and verily the Rod of the Lord did fall mightily upon the backsides of the Kids, and they were cast into the darkness of their bedrooms without any supper: and the Patch was filled with wailing and lamentation.

NEXT THRILLING INSTALMENT: In a little-known chapter of Cold War history, RAF Khormaksar converts to Judaism.

Keep it going, Danny. It beats the pants off the BBC news at the moment. Thanks to Geriaviator.

Bleddy hilarious. Please keep it coming.

that's anther bl@@dy keyboard almost soaked in coffee

https://s20.postimg.org/92s21sgbx/church.jpg


Geriaviator has no doubt that the departure of the Kids from RAF Khormaksar 65 years ago (picture, #461 above) was welcomed by the long-suffering residents of that terrible place. As fellow Pruners seem to enjoy Danny's resurrection of the Khormaksar Kids stories, here is an account of how the station almost converted to Judaism, and the long-suffering Padre Ashe faced redundancy.


RAF KHORMAKSAR CONVERTS TO JUDAISM

WE’RE ALL confined to quarters following the Church Parade incident, and during my ample time to meditate I experience a wondrous conversion. I’m going to become a Jew like Graham.

No more Sunday School, great. No more Padre Ashe droning on in church, even better. Leaving class and heading for home when Padre Ashe conducts the religious instruction, best of all. On our release from confinement the Kids join up in jubilant agreement and at the pool all our friends on National Service think it’s a great idea, they will convert too. The news goes round our little station community like wildfire, and now Dad says all his airmen want to be Jews as well.

We knew who caused the church uproar as soon as we spotted Abdul, who when not attending Church Parade lives a contented life in a box at Graham’s back door, eating kitchen scraps and seizing the odd cockroach as a delicacy. Graham commiserates on the grievous injustice we have suffered, listens with satisfaction as we describe the ensuing chaos, and tells us that he retrieved an indignant Abdul after Padre Ashe had ejected him with a brush. He has already rebuilt his stock of locusts, you never know when they’ll be handy for annoying somebody. Graham keeps a pocketful of locust fuselages for his pet, and we feed these tasty morsels to Abdul as Graham begins our instruction into the Jewish faith.

We learn that the Jews have a rabbi not a Padre, or rather they don’t have one at RAF Khormaksar because his family are the only Jews. A major benefit is that Jews do not go to church, instead they go to something called a Sinner-gog. But Graham has never been to one, and there isn’t one in Aden because the Arabs might object, we can’t think why but hey, it’s all good news. Robert says that Padre Ashe is always talking about sinners being washed clean of sin, so we conclude that the Sinner-gog must be some sort of theological laundry.

Graham tells us about the Ark, the bar mitzvah and some sort of candlestick they bring out on a Saturday night. The Ark is no problem, we can launch it at Steamer Point Lido as long as it fits in the gharri, and we could sail it round the harbour. I recall that mum has a bra thing as some part of her underwear, and we fall about at the idea of wearing a candlestick as a vest, we don’t wear vests in Aden anyway because it’s too hot. These are but minor details, and clearly Judaism is the way to go.

We announce our decision to our parents, who have met at Graham’s house for lunch. They are very encouraging and agree that the benefits make our decision a no-brainer, for Judaism requires only one teensy weensy thing in return. We listen with mounting horror as the contribution which Judaism requires of its male members is gently but fully explained to us.

Shortly afterwards three committed Christians and a solitary Israelite set out for the swimming pool.

Geriaviator,

I'm pleased to see that my exhortations have taken effect,* and you've graced this Thread with your matchless tales of Old Aden and its fauna and inhabitants !

Thik hai, chota Sahib,

Danny.

Note * above, see my Edit on #471 ... there's no hope for me ! - sorry,
Geriaviator

Geriaviator - another bl@@dy keyboard, almost!

Wander00. You've been on this forum long enough to know that you don't drink coffee at the same time. Says he, with a cup just here.

On the post about houses of ill repute,there were some of Malla straight!!

Oldpax, one shudders at the thought.

Herod - too true. I have chastised myself

I wonder where they were.