RAF KHORMAKSAR
 

Can any ex-professional help me with information on the SAR service at Khormaksar 1964-66. Specifically how many and what type of helicopters they flew. Was it a Squadron or a Flight and if so was it numbered.


I know it was a very busy place but were the SAR crews as busy as the rest and were they mainly involved with rescues on land or at sea?


Many thanks

Some info here:

RAF Khormaksar

At that time it would be Whirlwind 10s

I have contact with a pilot who was on the flight in '67, if that's any help. PM me with your email address and I'll contact him for you. BTW, in '67 if was the Wessex 2.

I thought RAF Khormaksar closed for good in 1967 as part of the withdrawal from Aden?

It was very late in 1967. I left in October. I think the RM switched the lights out in November.

One reasonably regular task for the Whirlwinds when I was there in 1966 was to provide transport for a small section of RAF Regiment who would be put down beside the road, usually between the causeway and Sheikh Othman where they would carry out an impromptu roadblock, to search cars and occupants for arms and explosives. I went on a few of these and never found anything. Since we did not have any female assistance we were obviously unable to search any women in the cars we stopped and as they were often in the head to toe burkha, who knows what might have slipped through?

Incidentally Shack 37 I was there on 37 (Field) Squadron, RAF Regiment, which led to some confusion with two squadrons of the same name on the base!

1963
 

I left in October 63 and SAR was a Dragonfly.

RAF KHORMAKSAR
 

Many thanks to all who have responded. My email address is on its way to you Herod.

!

As long as we knew the difference;)

Well, one squadron was tasked with carrying out long, tedious and usually uneventful patrols using pretty antique equipment.

And so was the other one ;)

More likely to have been a Wessex surely TTN? The Whirlwind was a non-tactical bright yellow and couldn't lift much in those Density Altitudes - probably not a "stick of Rocks"

According to Halley (The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force), 78 Sqn re-equipped with Wessex in June '65, and left for Sharjah (via Fearless or Intrepid?) in October '67.

There were Whirlwinds there for SAR duty - from '64 when they replaced the Sycamores (who'd been there since '55) - haven't quite been able to find out when they left. Not being a Sqn but an (apparently unnumbered) Independant Flight, their history is trickier to track down!

Watch this space.

Found it!

Sycamores were replaced by Whirlwind Mk 10s over the period January to July '64. They provided SAR until June '67 when the flight was disbanded. SAR was taken over by 78 Sqn, but some Wessex (2? 3? 4?) went to Muharraq to become part of the ComSAR Flight there. The (originally 4) late tranche Wessex buy for SAR were XT 601-604; yellow painted, they arrived in Khormaksar in boxes and were assembled there. XT 603 was one of the frames sold to Uruguayan (sp?) Navy in 1998. Currently believed to be "in storage", but not operational! (for the Eagle-eyed, yes I know that's XR 505 in the picture! - a much earlier frame, the 9th one delivered in 1963. That said, 505 was still operating in 2010 :eek:, believed to be the last operational Wessex in the world :()

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...l_Aviation.jpg

A former chief instructor at Shawbury of my acquaintance was posted from the Tern hill course to the SAR Flight at 'Big K'. He flew Sycamores and then converted to the Whirlwind 10, before returning to Tern hill to do his QHI course. After that, he had a mix of QHI jobs, French Test Pilots' school, air attache duties, staff tours and CI as mentioned above.

On retirement and despite an impressive logbook, he never served on a numbered squadron: now that must be pretty rare for an airframe driver.

O-D

And also of mine O-D. His curious career had other effects too.

As CFI (Wg Cdr) he was debriefing one of his Sqn Ldrs (not me!) on his 1369 (Annual Confidential Report).

"This is difficult for me", he said, "it's the first one of these I've ever had to write!" :eek::eek:

Another triumph for the Air Secretary's Department .... :ugh:

May be 505, may not be. Try Google Earth 34°50’38.80”S 56°01’13.64”W.

Thanks Fareastdriver - will try that one later! :ok:

TTH - you may be right, it is 49 years ago, after all ( :( ) I just remembered it as a Whirlwind. We weren't bothered about not being seen - difficult to miss a helicopter dropping down at the side of the road no matter what the colour. There would have been about half a dozen of us which maybe would have been a struggle for a Whirlwind operating in the high 30sC. Whirlwind or Wessex, it broke up the monotony of endless Land Rover patrol arounds the perimeter anyway.

One had Michelin *** self catering capability;)

Some more info here.

Khormaksar rundown and withdrawal plans

Dragonfly's ?????
 

Old Pax, I was there early 62 - mid 64 and the SAR flight had Sycamores, NOT Dragonflys, the Whirlwind Mk 10 then arrived late 63, but definitely not any Dragonfly's on the island. PH.

OK, I give up - you've got me there!

Tanker,

I assume Shacks is referring to the galley on board the aircraft along with crew culinary skills.

Dragonflies replaced by Sycamores in 1955 according to most sources.

Hammer, nail, head:ok:

Well, one squadron was tasked with carrying out long, tedious and usually uneventful patrols using pretty antique equipment.

And so was the other one....

TTN - Very funny!:ok:

Jack

Yes I'd got that about the in flight catering catering. Somewhat better than the soup heater provided for us in the Victor in my later incarnation after leaving the Rockapes. Guaranteed you a tin of luke warm oxtail soup by top of descent after a five hour sortie :*

Memory lapse!
 

Yes of course "Sycamore".Probably said Dragonfly as a result of a visit to Yeovilton not long back!Not long after I arrived in Ksar The SAR flight had to take out the casualty of a shooting accident at Conquest bay ,I remember it hovering over the rocks while a doctor and medic attended the casualty(he died)and then we loaded the body onto a stretcher and put it aboard and away it went!

Shooting
 

Wasn't Dave K**s the pilot ?, who had to go fly around the bay and await the call back as he commented the said aircraft was an ar*e to keep in the hover or nearby and it made his arms ache, whilst medic attended the patient.

If it was a Sycamore he would have had the engine at or above max continuous in the hover so he probably flew around to protect the engine.

I was at Khormaksar at the same time as 601-4. My logbook shows 02,03 and 04, so I guess the yellow one (if one there was) was XT601.

S&R started in Khormaksar in '55 - log books are distinctly grotty, after being immersed when the house was destroyed, but may be able to decipher dates if necessary. It was set up with 3 pilots and three 'Siggies' from APCSS/ACS on temporary loan because of a shortage of Navs. We did our winch training on the flight - best described as 'interesting!! We had two commissioned pilots and one Master Pilot - 'Tommy' Tomczak - later name changed to Tommy Pavey. He and I flew several times together - flights which emphasised the complete lack of suitability of the Sycamore for hot clime operation ... 44" of boost ... and going down:ooh: Phil Clay has just reappeared in memory and ??? Bamber? The other volunteer siggies were Brian Fletcher and Geoff Wigley - the latter is the one nearest camera,http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/u...ck/Syc01-1.jpg Brian was on stand down. This piccy was included in a related thread in 2013. Only lasted in role for 3 months then back to the Valettas.
No more S&R until back from Bangkok in '64 (someone has to do the hardship posts:E), when asked If I would like to try 22 Sqdn Whirlies ... and the rest, as they say, is history!!

XT601
 

Wasn't XT601 a Wessex ? just curious .

XT 601 was certainly a Wessex 2. All four XTs (01,02,03,04) were part of 78 Sqn. This was late '67. I'm just wondering if 601 might have remained in the yellow colours and sited somewhere else on the airfield. I've got a couple of contacts from those dasy who would know. I'll ask around.

Regarding the hot and high capability of the Whirlwind, in 1969 I flew a civvy WS55 Mk.3, with Gnome engine out of Abu Dhabi to a rig offshore, +30C and more was the 'norm' along with very high humidity, especially during summer. We managed to uplift eight oil rig workers so I would have thought the '10 could have managed a SAR payload in Aden? Stand to be corrected, of course! :)

Just helping Dougie M out with a spot of image processing/posting ... I'm sure he'll be along shortly to add his story :ok:

http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...psaluw0sbw.jpg

Best ...

Coff.

SAR WESSEX KHORMAKSAR 1967
 

Thanks again Coff for your sterling service.
I was at Khormaksar in 1966-67 and the SAR choppers were yellow Wessex flavoured. This pic was taken at an Open Day at the airfield.
Hope it helps with your deliberations.

Yellow Sycamores
 

This was taken in April 1958 when visiting KSAR in a Hastings.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psiwyos2qp.jpg

The Sycanores had a bad time at first in the Far East. Thet had wooden blades and when they caught the de Havilland Mosquito disease they would delaminate.

Not a good thing to happen to a helicopter.

They eventually solved the problem and so they carried on until the mid sixties.

I had a friend who was SAR at El Adem with Sycamores. The pilot would operate the winch via a mirror and the winchman would go down the wire. As there was insufficient power to lift both out of the dinghy then he would send the survivor up first. He would then be winched up unless there was insufficient power or fuel in which case he would be left behind in the dinghy and the Sycamore would take the survivor back and then return for him.

Even later than that! The last 2 (?) Sycamores soldiered on on Metropolitan Comms Sqn (which became 32) until 1969/70 at least.

FED - IIRC 2 mirrors. Actually, they were (from memory) Hillman Husky hub caps, highly polished and and positioned such that the pilot could see what was going on below the aircraft by looking slightly right. When we started, that 'system' had been discarded and we relied on the winchman using a headset plugged into an auto-feed intercom reel. The junction between headset and intercom was less than 100% watertight and water entry was an ear-splitting experience!!:eek:
Wet winch training was slated for (what turned out to be) our last week as 'fill-ins'. Intention was to winch from a dinghy in the inner harbour. However, on arrival, we could see some local residents - sharks and ray circling - 'jungle' drums having advertised the prospect of a free lunch, maybe, so discretion ... etc.

I had a refam ride with Digger Barrell at Northolt in 1971. I had forgotten how close the rotor blades pass over the cockpit roof and I found myself ducking at 1 Rrpm.