Not Aden, Sycamore.

I was in the Wessex/Puma formation which was lead by a Sycamore to a landing on Upavon on 11 Aug 72. After lunch, the Wessex and Pumas gave a flypast for the parked Sycamore. AOCinC signalled his "thanks for an immaculate flying display. It gave thje Old Lady a fine send off."

Zetec2, re. the gypsum, quite so.
'55-'58 era the hangar was given over once a year to the Kormaksar 'Fair' ... misnomer for a ginormous drunken thrash!! The I S troops at the time were the K.O.Y.L.I. Their RSM did a 'patrol' late in the evening with a couple of his 'sturdiest' Cpls and spotting any of 'his' in advanced falling-down mode would put a Cpl either side and remove them to a waiting 3 tonner and thence back to Barracks. The Regiment (RAF) guys, on the other hand were left to their own devices.
The following morning parades were noticeably contrasting!!!:E

zetec you have a PM

Message
 

Hi, nothing as at 22.20 ?, rgds, PH.

Apologies for the thread drift, but I found this photo while searching through my Hastings slides. It was taken from the RHS during a refuelling stop at RAF Habbaniya on April 12th 1958, enroute from Bahrain to Nicosia after a short detachment in Khormaksar. Remarkably similar to Aden, but without the Rocks.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ps5g11psnw.jpg

Presumably that was Habbaniyah Plateau, not Main.
Not even close!! Aden was truly awful, climate, accommodation, food, entertainment, facilities etc. truly ad nauseam!
Hab, on the other hand had pleasant accommodation, shopping centre, civilised Messes, even a ZOO!!! - absolutely chalk and cheese! Mind you, spent 10 days in Hab hospital recovering from food poisoning (post Aden greed!) - would have been happy to stay.

It felt the same as Khormaksar without the humidity during a quick turnaround. Agreed Aden was a dump. I suffered it for two years!

Couple more taken in April 1958.

8 Squadron Venoms

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pst65dbojf.png

Parked at the western end near the Venoms.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pswgni8x0v.png

Khormaksar in the news again. Fighting in and around the airport.

http://nyti.ms/19C1ERY

But this time they're not shooting at the Brits. That's the way I like it.

NLF and FLOSY were having a pop at each other back then too IIRC.

Flosy for Eve
 

Flosy for Eve
 

Always reminds me of the amateurish insurgent attempts before IS and Al Qaeda.
A slogan writer fled leaving his paint so an obliging squaddie finished it off

Good grief! Sundowners on balconies along the Maalla Straight could be interrupted by RPG's again :eek:


http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psnv1iuqkk.jpg

Maalla Straight
 

At least we don't have to mount check points.http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2swuynk5.jpg

Tarshyne back to Khormaksar on our Honda 50's - in formation. And no breathalyser limit! 50 plus years back.

Jungle Bar
 

A lot more brain cells were left herehttp://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...pscwbwed7a.jpg

Jungle Bar
 

Mostly post flight bevvies http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...psv471hykn.jpgstarted at noon

Is that Wally M on the right? Riding a Honda 50 around the Jungle Bar could be tricky if too much beer was spilled! :eek:

Wol
 

I'm afraid that Wally is not blanked in this photo because he is sadly no longer with us. A larger than life character sorely missed.