I know, he flew with me a lot in Air Europe.

Usual 84 Beverley Squadron lunchtime gathering circa 1960. Pete Youll on the left and 'Herby' Herbert at the back. Can't remember the rest.
FYI, all the 84 Squadron Memorabilia, including the squadron diary from that era and the David Shepherd painting of a Beverley at Beihan, is held by the current 84 Helicopter squadron at Akrotiri. A fascinating read, lots of photographs to make us all realise just how good looking we were 50+ years ago.


Ramraider

RAF Khormaksar
 

My late dad was a M/Sig Winchman who was given a year's unaccompanied posting to Khormaksar, so I've just had a look through his log books for the period.

His first flight there was 1 May 1966 and his last was 4 February 1967, which covers most of the period you're interested in.

Up until mid-July 66 all his flights were on Whirlwind 10s, after that Wessex 2s crept in. There was a mix of both types right through to February 67, but in my dad's case only about a quarter of his flights were in Wessex's.

Obviously I can't say what was there outside the period he was there.

He took a few photos while he was there - I'll have to work out how to upload them!

Hope this is helpful :)

Ah yes - the Jungle Bar. In 1966 the mess seemed to possess only one LP, Bert Kaempfert's Swingin' Safari and how I grew to loathe it after daily exposure over the weeks and months. I seem to remember a G & T was 50 fils (one shilling, or 5p) and 20 Rothmans and a box of matches was the same. And no, that wasn't a lot of money, even then!

Hoot and roar with 84 and stay alive with 105, although I nearly did myself serious harm when my Honda 50 slid from under me on a beer puddle during a Jungle Bar TT :eek:

roll reversal ?
 

Brakedwell -

Do you think your excellent pic of the Habbaniya parking lot (post 65 above) might be back to front ? Shouldn't the hangars be on the right ?

Back to the thread -

LFH Père was on 8 in Aden. 'E din't say nuffink about no 'elicopters.

Mind you, he flew Ninaks – 1925-27. Hinaidi first, then briefly at Khormaksar. Shipped home with TB. Never expressed a convincing wish to return. ............ LFH

Might JW411 be persuaded to add some of his photos from those days? Possibly some of the flooded Jungle Bar and the shenanigans therein circa 1 April 1967, after the exceptionally heavy rain that hit Aden and much of the coastline? (I see that I went on a double 1-ton drop of rations and mail at Salalah the next day as a result.)

http://www.frpilot.com/Dad/Jungle.JPG

If you insist Ian. Ken Stanley on the left, Wally climbing into the top of the fountain and Taff Bevan below.

http://www.frpilot.com/Dad/Boys.JPG

L-R: Taff Bevan, Ken Stanley, Wally Makepeace and Colin Probert.

http://www.frpilot.com/Dad/Mess.JPG

Time to head back to the bar. L-R: Andy McHugh, Taff Bevan (with the week's mail in his back pocket - slightly modified) and Colin Probert.

At Seletar I shared a room in the mess with Andy McNeil who was a Flying Officer Beverley captain on 34 Sqn at age 23. Nice chap, I have a slide of him somewhere sitting in his "armchair" seat flying over the Malayan jungle.

Never heard about those floods in Aden. I was there for 6 months in 1966 and it rained once for about 15 minutes in the middle of the night. I was on a 24 hour shift, so witnessed the phenomenon, but by the next day it had all dried up and people who had slept through it didnt believe it had rained.

Same saying at Marham in the 70s, substituting 214 and 55!

To be honest I can't remember as it was only a refuelling stop. I will hunt out slide and recheck.

Jenkins:

If you are talking about the photograph at Post #78, the chap in the background with the moustache is Neil Carnegie. All five of them were on 105 Sqn.

http://www.frpilot.com/Dad/Flood1.JPG

Sorry folks; this is the shot that I couldn't find earlier which shows Wally at the peak of his career.

JW411 re. Post 94.

I concede. You are probably right about the identities of the guys in the photograph at post 78, although the resemblance to the individuals I thought that I had 'identified' in post 82 is quite striking, However, on reflection I realised that, for the subjects to be those that I thought they were, the photo would have had to date to 1959 which was probably well before your time.
In other posts there were some references to how rare the rank of Flying Officer now is in a squadron crewroom. In 1959 No 84 (Beverley) Squadron had a direct entry AEO Pilot Officer Signals Leader - very rare!

Ramraider

Maala Straight
 

Which one is Richmond Court where I lived and could set my watch by the bazooka attacks from Crater?

I can't remember the name of our block, but we were on the third floor and the bazookas used to arrive when the memsaab was on her second brandy ginger.

In the matter of Junior Officers as captain of aircraft, I often flew with a Pilot Officer as skipper on 84 Squadron, and it's not just a smudge on my log book. There were also several Sgt pilots active; not sure if they were authorised to carry V and A items on route.

Location
 

I have to say that "Jungle bar" looks a damn sight more attractive than either the "NAFFI" bar or the "69"club(bfpo 69 of course!)although the steak meals in the "69"were really good .

The Boys
 

This would be after work, around lunch time but before heading for the beach. No meals served here unless it was an evening function.


http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...pshk6xbysj.jpg

Flying Officers
 

These were the days of Promex B to advance to Flt. Lt. Apart from the Exam there was a time to be served in each rank. We had a Fg. Off. Freddie Bond who experienced a bombing raid during his B exam in the 40s and had to take cover. He refused to retake it so was a very senior Fg. Off.
As for the beer above. It was Tennents Lager shipped out in the bilges. The tins were always rusty.

Was it Tennants that had the pinups on the cans?

(Not [quite] old enough for BFPO 69, but did manage 64 and 66!)

Tennants? As I recall, it certainly was. And I also seem to recall a period during which supplies were held up and the cans were fairly rusty old stock ... but it didn't make much difference. And Cpl Mulholland often behind the bar?

And Amstel

One has found a link here to the original "Lager Lovelies" of 1969-71.

Not exactly Page 3 but ISTR they were a very welcome diversion! :ok:

Lager in Ksar
 

The Tennants cans depicted "Jane" in various garbs. Carlsberg was available in stubbies as below.


http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...pszcdyeeih.jpg

Looking at the pics of the current Khormaksar airfield I cannot believe that the locals continued to use it as an "international" airport. Wonder what the pax thought as the aircraft taxied in?

'Twas a place I was glad to be rid of in May 67. Sharjah was much better :}

I wouldn't describe Sharjah as better than anywhere :eek:

Yes, Jenks, I looked forward to a day of adventure once I was airborne from Sharjah.

Sharjah 1967
 

This place wasn't much cop either in the 60's. The runway is now a thoroughfare in the town ATC looks sad but the fort is still there.


http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...psbuormnec.jpg

Sharjah from the Argosy
 

I suppose a change was as good as a rest


http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...psluue1kau.jpg

The advantages of Sharjah over K'sar were a) AIR CONDITIONED ACCOMODATION!! and b) Mc Connochie's (??) tinned Ready Meal as an alternative to the Mess food!
P.S. The two on the left in 101(as viewed) look VERY familiar but no names can be dredged up.

I seem to remember Allsopps (Slops).
My (shared) room was just above the Jungle bar so it made sense to down a few before retiring. We were up very early (0500) to get the Beverley back from up-country
before it got too turbulent and dusty.
There are a few claims for ***hole of the world, but nowhere comes close to Aden.

Re air conditioning at Khormaksar: the following is from the 8 Sqn web site.




In July 1959, an article entitled “Up go the Venoms to shoot a camel” appeared in the London Evening Standard. Apart from being a blatant line-shoot, one paragraph did, for the Squadron, have a very profitable sequel. The paragraph was:


“…….another hardship is lack of sleep. Without air-conditioning, restful sleep is impossible and none of the pilots had an air-conditioned bedroom, although it could be so equipped for an outlay of £1,000.”


A few days after publication of this article the Station Commander received a letter from a lady who wished to remain anonymous. The letter asked if he would accept £1,000 to be spent on air-conditioning units for the pilots of No 8 Squadron. A letter accepting the offer was despatched by return of post and within weeks the installation of the units was complete! It must be added that the grateful Air Force not only refused to pay for the electricity consumed by the air-conditioners, but it also refused to maintain them. The Squadron could not afford to do so, and consequently they went unserviceable one by one before being removed and scrapped (by the Air Force).

Except for the old saying that the Persian Gulf is the ***hole of the world and Muharraq is 500 miles up it.

Khormaksar was absolute luxury compared to anything the Army had in Aden those days.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c9...psad2db909.jpg

Sharjah looks a hell of a lot different now!

Spent a couple of nights in the mess in Sharjah around 1972. As we'd just spent 2 weeks in Masirah with its salt water showers it seemed like luxury. Sharjah's runway wasnt long enough for a Victor K1, so we used the airport at a nearby town called Dubai, where some of the buildings were at least 5 stories tall!

That view of the runway at #113 was, as I recall, very similar to that at Dubai just along the coast, with a real risk of misidentification! Little did we think back then how things might change in that area.