Masirah.
 

I've just come across this photo, which I believe was taken in Masirah circa '69-'70? But I'm not certain. Can anyone shed any light? Does anybody recognise anyone in the photo? My Dad is pictured, front row second far right, sitting. Thanks.
http://i68.tinypic.com/6igzko.jpg

Recognise a few faces there who were on the Vulcan with 9 Sqn at RAF Akrotiri about that time. Masirah was a regular detachment for both the Akrotiri Vulcan squadrons then.

SD, concur, definitely IX, we went the following year IIRC.

Definitely recognise the walrus moustache, knew him at Waddo, his name just came to me, Ray Leach. He was big on CS.

Looks like a small Det, just two crews.

Next to your father is, I think, Roger Greenwood. Was your father an engineer then, his badge does seem different.

If you count the green-suiters it comes to 15 so maybe 3 crews? Definitely Ray Leach.

3P:ok:

Threeputt, that depends on Akrotiri71's father. If he was a crew chief then that makes 2 crews with crew chiefs. If he was an AEO - previously an AEOp - then I agree three crews.

We await Akrotiti's feedback.

PN, 35 were there 4-15 Jan 71 according to my logbook.

SD, not a full sqn then as I flew a day/night at Akrotiri on the 8th. However on 17th Jan 72 we did a hi-lo-hi over southern Iran, on the 19th over Oman, 21st RTB.

I had flown directly from UK to rejoin the sqn at Masirah.

PN, is your 72 is a typo ? If not we are a year apart, my ref is to Jan 71.

SD, no, my mother had just died, I was compat home then 10 back to Akrotiri, rushed off, collected my kit, then on to Masirah.

Regular detachments to Masirah? Yet another reason to be glad I escaped tin triangles! ;)

Anyone remember where we got the paint from to paint squadron numbers on the turtles' shells when they came up on the beach to lay their eggs ? Also the Arab kids with their plastic buckets stealing the eggs as soon as they were laid, to take them home to eat them- anyone remember that ?

ISTR there was someone who had a little garden on base with a gate to keep the local deer out. One day the gate was left open :sad:

Still remember walking across the sand to the shower al fresco.

Basil, probably the PSA garden with a water system to keep it irrigated.

TTN, actually Masirah was not bad at all. Large Twinam huts with more than enough beds for a crew in each room. Good bar with TV room off. Nightly all-ranks film shows by the RAFP where the P stood not only for Police. The films were in monochrome blue.

Then the fishing by night with the catch flown home in the recuperator bays in the wing - deep frozen at -70. And golf. Also in '72 we had Mustapha Aliqueen on his moped trying to get off the camp.

To keep the donkeys off the run (donkeys Basil, not deer) PSA set out two cattle grids on the two roads and then set up fences between the two grids.

Mustapha, at the end of his shift hurtling down the track he had used that morning and every day for the last many years almost drove in to the new fence. He backs off, tries a different line, same result, more fence. Backs off once more and goes hurtling along the fence line - to gap. Turns round, comes hurtling back, still no gap.

He did this several times until eventually he gave up and used the road. We had fully expected that he would try and jump the fence.

If I remember correctly the dhobi in Masirah was free as the 'washing/showering ' water was saline. We cheapskate Tanker Trash often saved our washing to take it with us.I also remember that guys in Aden would volunteer for a RSM (Riyan/Salalah/Masirah ) trip to get a 'hot' shower, albeit saline as opposed to the 'warm' Aden fresh(ish) water showers. I also remember the Masirah TV room was ,ahem, very large(when you opened the door). Happy days!

PN.
After a little more digging, I found a photo of my Dad at Butterworth 1969, XM608. So I'm guessing the Masirah photo could be a couple of years later whilst on detachment there. My Dad was stationed at Akrotiri, as Crew Chief.

Rings a bell :)

PN, I'm sure there was a little deer hanging around when we transited, in the Argosy, to/from Gan in the sixties.
Saw it during the day, not returning from bar - honest!

I remember that there was a very tame gazelle on the camp in the early 70's, used to follow you around! The TV room was very useful for newbies! Incidentally, the door to the room was still there when I was with SOAF/RAFO in the mid-80's, although TV was available! Good times!!

Bill

I believe Masirah was the first mess with a Sky TV room.

Masirah Donkeys.

Thanks, JW, I never saw those.
What I saw must have been the tame gazelle referred to by Bill Macgillivray.

The Gazelle was called Shiela and rumour had it that she had originally come down from Sharja. She was extremely tame and wandered in and out of the living quarters without any fear at all. She was subject to a medical emergency when she was run down by a local on his Honda 50. The medical team managed to repair her damaged leg but she still carried on wandering about with a rear leg in plaster for five or six weeks.

I must have done at least two dozen RSM's during my time on 105 in Aden in 1964/6. ISTR the permanent members of the officers mess were never particularly friendly during our night stop. The scheduled arrival time of the thrice weekly RSM Argosy was around 1300 and by the time we secured the aircraft, changed into KD and reached the mess there was usually only time for one beer before the bar Closed at 13.30. After a series of slightly delayed arrivals, when we arrived in the mess shortly after closing time, we managed to depart from Khormaksar about twenty minutes early. The Ryan stop went very smoothly and we departed almost an hour early. More time was made up on the Salalah turnround and we headed for Masirah at max cruise speed with an ETA 30 minutes before the bar opened at 12.30. That was going to p*ss of the city fathers!
A high speed descent and a fast low level approach would keep ATC on their toes, or so we thought. We crossed a small headland on the south east side of the island at 200 feet and saw a submarine on surface sitting about a hundred yards off the beach. As I climbed to make VHF contact with Masirah in a tight turn over the submarine it dived and sat on the sandy bottom in crystal clear water. Masirah told us to keep the submarine in sight, they were scrambling a Shackleton from Aden. A bit pointless as it would take six hours to reach Masirah. We orbited above the submarine for over an hour before low fuel forced us to land, five minutes after the bar had closed!!!
We learned later that RAF police landrovers on perimeter patrols had been shot at on several nights a few weeks after the incident and Baghdad radio had reported freedom fighters on Masirah had retaliated against the British occupiers. The powers that be in Steamer Point were convinced the submarine had supplied small arms to a disgruntled group of Omanis on Masirah. None of my crew were ex kipper fleet, so all submarines looked alike, but it could have been doing Iraq's dirty work.

This may have been mentioned before but I recently got a copy of "Masirah - Tales From a Desert Island" by a chap called Colin Richardson. It is a pretty comprehensive history of aviation on Masirah Island from about 1929 onwards and I found it to be a pretty good read if you have any interest in the place.

Went there with our Hunters (208) and noticed the 'pre-oxygenating' taps in the floor of the changing rooms for the Lightnings.

Very odd.

Fantom, as likely for the Canberra as they would cruise around 40k with a 25k cabin altitude.

Hunter Detachments (8/208) to Masirah and the mention of oxygen has got my memory going.

I have often wondered if our young trained killers ever gave any thought as to where their oxygen came from?

The answer is that it came from a Mobile LOX (Liquid Oxygen) Plant which was magically transported from Bahrain in an Argosy.

The Royal Air Force was in love with liquid oxygen in those days (allegedly because it saved weight). The problem was that LOX could be pretty evil stuff unless very carefully managed. No doubt many of you have heard the horror stories of dipping a lump hammer or a banana into a beaker of LOX and then watching it shatter when tapped on a work bench? Can you just imagine what would happen to the floor of your aircraft if a mobile LOX plant were to start leaking in flight? I can well remember visiting the Gas Plant at Muharraq and having a quick course about what could possibly go wrong by a very erudite Flt Sgt.

So what we did was to mount the Mobile LOX Plant on top of an MSP (Medium Stressed Platform) which was the normal way of delivering Land Rovers and trailers etc by parachute.

This worked by having a large extractor parachute on the upper clam shell door which, when activated, would then yank the MSP out of the back of the aircraft and hopefully, after a decent interval, half a dozen other chutes would open to lower what was left of it down to the ground.

Now we did have a vent valve connection on the port side of the fuselage to atmosphere but we carried a chap from the Gas Plant with us and if he decided that things were getting out of control, then the whole lot went out the back regardless of where we were within seconds.

I never welcomed carrying Mobile LOX Plants but I have to say that all went well.

The God Special
 

Once a month the RSM was flown with a padre on board so that he could minister to his scattered flock along the Arabian coast. The R.C. padre was one father Sean O'Shea whose favourite tipple was brandy and Benedictine. The flight awaited his return from devotions in Riyan and Salalah before journeying on. He once stated that hearing confessions in Salalah was like being stoned to death with popcorn. On arrival for the obligatory night stop in Masirah he could entertain the crew with wicked stories. One night the turtles came ashore to lay and the station decamped with generators and lights from the pan and lots of libations. Much later the father, the wrong side of a few brandy and Benedictines announced to our amazement that the turtles never laid all their eggs at once. We were in awe of all this knowledge learned in Irish seminars. He then proceeded to meander down the beach to a female loggerhead at least twice his size who was just starting to cover up its clutch. We were all expecting some holy benediction when the reverend bent down near its earhole and shrieked "Lay some more eggs you stupid fecking turtle!" At his command the turtle started popping out more eggs and duly satisfied the padre meandered back with a beatific smile. God works in wondrous ways.

Hunters at Masirah
 

In my youth I had the pleasure of being numbered amongst Jock's "young killers" and took part in several 8 Sqn detachments to Masirah. LOX was certainly a requirement which demanded respect but perhaps not quite the most dangerous.

The mighty Avon 200 series Hunter engine was fired up with the essential participation of Avpin - possibly the most volatile liquid to transport by any means. How it arrived at Masirah (and elsewhere) I cannot recall but subsequent wanderings around Europe (2 Sqn - Hunter FR 10) led to several turn rounds at NATO bases where the host nation would only store Avpin in the most remote locations. Happily the Hunter Avpin tank carried enough for several engine starts and we tried to plan our wanderings with enough to complete the exercise without relying on local pre-stored supplies. Perhaps someone can recall how Avpin found its way to Masirah.

Avpin: I know what you mean Fixed Cross. I was approaching Khormaksar from the south in an Argosy as it was getting dark when a bright flash lit up the sky ahead of us. Sadly, it turned out to be a Belvedere. The BOQ found one of the engines had shed an un-contained turbine blade, which entered the Avpin tank and destroyed the aircraft.

brakedwell,



"I must have done at least two dozen RSM's during my time.."


You boasting or just proud of your inter service integration skills?

More like feeling like a martyr, it was a bloody awful place!

Brakedwell, regarding unfriendly natives, in the mess that is, I think this was probably true of most overseas messes, and even in UK, where the one night party night for the visitor was a 7 nighter as far as the residents were concerned.

I think the best RAF station in this respect was Luqa which ran two messes. As Sunspot Det we used the main mess but on rangers etc we were in transit.

Good point Pontius, I like to think we welcomed visiting crews into the Muharraq mess bar as it relieved the boredom! The Luqa Officers Transit Mess in 1958 was my first close contact with the V Force. Apart from me, a lowly second pilot, our Hastings crew was a load of old hairies, who were getting agitated about the blue eyed V boys drinking in their clanking flying suits. Eventual our captain stomped out to the entrance lobby and wrote this entry in the visitors' book: "Suggest the bar be pressurised to make the V Force feel at home." It never was though!

JW411,
the Hercules initially carried LOX on an SSP (Supplies Stressed Platform) rigged as you describe for airdrop. When the SSP was withdrawn from service we just carried it on a standard pallet without the airdrop option. Once had a fire under the flight deck on a trip from Patrick AFB to Belize when carrying 500 US gallon LOX tank. Made for an interesting few minutes.
As I recall we carried Avpin in 44 gallon drums under the dangerous cargo regulations.
I worked on Javelins, Hunters and Lightnings as groundcrew so I was serial Avpin inhaler. It is a wonder that any of us ex groundcrew have any lungs left !

That was a great book. I remember two entries:

"Thank you for my stay at the Luqa Transit Mess. The standard of catering was second only to that of El Adem".

"Suggest that the practice of 'watering down' be discontinued".

"What do you mean? The ink or the fruit juice?"

"The fruit juice - the ink was delicious".

JW, El Adem, best fillet mignon I ever had, and that while the Hastings was grounded.

RE 'Pre-oxygen on Canberras'. Did several tours on PR 7s & 9s, including Masirah dets. Never heard of the pre-oxy being for our benefit, or saw it. Yes, we did float around in a cabin alt of 25k plus for many hours. So we had pressure waistcoats and Taylor helmets on the 9, but not the 7.

4T, I think it was very much an Av Med fashion from the 50s. They had us preoxygenating for the bang chamber but by the early 60s the O2 system on the special crew buses was defunct and the O2 benches in flying clothing were never used.

I know bends was an issue in the 50s with unpressurised cockpits so they probably specifier prebreathing but found it unnecessary after the fact.

When I was on 8 Sqn in 68, avpin was transported in unopened drums in the Argosy when we went to Masirah for live firing. Memories come flooding back, green water in the swimming pool, currency reserve bank of India rupee, no coins, change given in goods! Rusty tins of McEwans Export, women in black Burqas walking across the desert to and from tin town (dwellings constructed of oil drums). Great bbq on the beach, beach alive with crabs as the tide went out, fishing off the pier. Happy days!

At Istres circa 1957, it was flown out in 44 gal drums in a Valletta from Benson. Then stored in the 'Avpin Hut', an isolated wooden hut in the bundu about 50 yards from the hanger.