Martin, have sent you an email...

threeputt; from the newspaper clip the nosewheel incident was Mon 14 Nov 77

I will post the Camp photo later, off up to the attic to dig it out !

Really interesting stuff on a series of events not often discussed, if at all.

Thanks everyone, particularly 5aday.

Mon 14 Nov
 

In that case we had just returned from doing an Italian LL route 13.....remember that?

3P:ok:

I was on 203 from 74-78 - single, lived in Marsascala for a couple of years. I used to have a beer or 3 regularly at the local Labour Party club. Never had a problem with the local Mintoff stalwarts ... even when the local election fisticuffs kicked off. Had a lovely cleaning lady who regularly left fresh lampuki in the fridge for us ...

Regrettably not. We never got farther than 40 miles off the coast with the F4 (gunnery, combat or intercepts)

I was out in front of Golf Dispersal watching the Boeing incident unfold and then watched it land. I missed the bouncing wheel though.

I did a couple of short dets to Luqa in 1978 with 35 Sqn (a Lone Ranger in January and a Solar Flare in July) and both were great fun! Apart, that is, from the wretched MRR borexes we had to fly...

We never witnessed anything except friendliness from the Maltese - except for the time when our Nav Plotter had his wallet lifted whilst we were on a cultural visit to 'The gut', that is...:\

But signs of Mintoff's hostility were around - including such pettiness as the coats of arms have been hacked off the red post boxes with an angle grinder.

Many happy nights in the City Gem in Sliema, of course!

Aaaaah! Rick's Bar at the City Gem ... anyone manage to drink the top row of the display behind the bar?

Just remembered - the fine display of Wardroom cutlery from the old submarine base in use in the restaurant!!

Photo here of that 720B minus nosegear:
JetPhotos.Net Photo » AP-ATQ (CN: 18745) Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Boeing 720-040B by malta

Malta
 

In for a penny in for a pound. It was only a short jump and the aeroplane was SO close to the ground but what the hell - blow the slide and be done with it. They will only add a few grand more to the bill.
I wish the Nimrods had that sort of luxury instead of sliding down a rope and holding a peice of fabric.

I was the token aviation enthusiast in Nimrod ASF 75-78 at Luqa and thus have a fair few Nimrod slides which might help with your project. PM me for details.

It is often forgotten, and in fairness was probably not known to the aircrew on 203, that right up to the day we left there were RAF Malta personnel in the same uniform as us, supporting the Sqns. These were local people who joined the RAF and were trained in the UK, but only signed on to work in Malta. We had a Cpl and 2 SACs on the Nimrod; there were many more in Canberra ASF. They obviously lived at home and occasionally you would hear of their difficulties with other people on the island.

To an outsider it seemed, you were either for the Nationalists or for Labour; there were no half way houses. Each had their own social clubs and when we lived out in Fgura during the 1977? elections, one side set about the other’s club in the square with such violence that supposedly a full sized (slate) snooker table was pushed out through the wall and onto the road. From the first floor.

A couple of happier memories from a good tour. Well respected Chief is walking through the hangar with a Royal Marine, as we were working on a Nimrod tail. Arms are being pointed in our general direction. We were asked if we had heard any bangs earlier in the morning? The Nimrods used 2 Park, beyond which lay 3 Park – used by APCs and the few NATO visitors. It was guarded by 41 Commando and earlier in the day one of them had accidently fired a burst from his GPMG. When asked which direction, he pointed at the then biggest building on the airfield, Nimrod ASF! We were OK and never heard anymore of the incident.

The hangar had been relocated from Kalafrana, where it had been used by Sunderland’s. In an interesting turn of history, when I last heard it was being used by Lufthansa for Airbus maintenance.

Finally, there were two flag poles at RAF Luqa – one for the Station and another outside the Air Commanders complex. One Sunday morning both the Ord Cpl and the Ord Officer were from 203. The former had a bicycle, the latter, as befitted his rank and station, a Mini. A race was set up and on the 2nd whistle blast from the Cpl at the Station flag pole, both ran for their steeds.

The Mini, though faster, had to follow the road layout - the cyclist just set off across the bondu, in a virtual straight line. Evidently the Cpl got to the 2nd flagpole first and tossing the bicycle to one side, he started clipping the ensign to the rope, as the strained snarl of the Mini got ever closer. `Sir’ arrived in some disarray, and ran for his spot, hat in hand. But when the single blast of the whistle announced the end of the race, who won became irrelevant for the Air Commander was in his office, come grandstand, and had seen the whole event! Just another day in RAF Malta...

Malta Nimrods
 

I am trying to confirm if the following aircraft were on the 203 books or just on detachment:
NimrodStartFinishXV24601/03/1977XV22615/01/197317/09/1975XV245Jan-78
Did anybody record or fly on these with 203 while in Malta
Many thanks XV148

Malta Nimrods
 

formatting didnt work, here they are again:
XV246 which finished on 01/03/1977
XV226 which started on 15/01/1973 and finished on 17/09/1975
XV245 which finished in January 1978

Flew in XV245 & XV246 on 203 Sqn but not XV226. Was in XV246 for the detachment to the Seychelles for their independance in June 1976.

many thanks for confiming these, I will also add the 246 detachment to the 246 history record, thanks (XV148)

I had exactly the same experience as Tezzer. Senior NCO (CWO) on our Air Cadet overseas camp in 1975; Based at Hal Far...duty NCO on first night, while everyone else went to Valetta.... was told my reward was to go flying the following morning, after the obligatory haircut. However, my Nimrod flight was always "tomorrow", due to a vessel of interest in the Med. My next flight was the 1-11 back to Gatwick.

Risking a moments thread creep here. Pakistan International must make a hobby of nose-wheel problems. I was in a PIA 707 landing at Karachi 13 December 1976 at o dark thirty. The nose wheel collapsed and we made a good bow wave before grinding to a halt.

@ Malcolm 380
 

I will dig out the camp photo when I get home from Warsaw, got a funny feeling you might be on it !!

I too did an ATC summer camp at Hal Far in 1975. Looking forward to seeing the photo on the offchance I was there during that particular camp. Unfortunately I can remember very little of the trip, but that is more a function of memory loss with age rather than the quality of the camp.