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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0661.PDF
29 May 1953 (Upper left) The tribal dance at Masirah Island is all good clean fun, and here Corporal Seymour joins in. The adjacent view shows Aden Pro tectorate Levies throwing a party in our honour and (above) one of them, in field service kit, is drawing a bead on an advancing "enemy." On the extreme left, with a piece of artillery from an old Portuguese fort, are F/0. J. A. Basson (com manding Levies), Mr. C. S. Wallace (station engineer), and FjO. D. Graham (officer com manding). Last, "Ruck gave the Wali a circuit in the Valetta, which pleased him vastly." tour) greeted us with a big grin and two guards of honour. They wielded pieces of ordnance ranging from sporting Lee-Enfields to .450 Martinis. This was one occasion at least when we met the entire R.A.F. unit-strength—specifically one flight sergeant, four corporals and ten airmen. We regret that we were not able to meet the camel which is listed on the M/T. strength. From the technical viewpoint the strip has nothing on London Airport; so we piled into a lorry to spend an hour meeting the Bedouin who had come down from the hills (bringing their own flies with them) and eyeing the Sultan's white seaside palace. A dhow lay off-shore and the CO. told us how similar craft are used to bring in the fuel for the R.A.F. The drums are tied together, heaved overboard, marshalled by strong swimmers (at some risk to life and limb, for each drum weighs 4 cwt), and dragged up the beach. With luck, eight hundred might be brought ashore in three days. The flying officer added that his unit could make good use of a small boat for fishing and that he had his eye on something suitable; but the Arab owner was asking the im possible price of 120 Maria Theresa dollars. These beautiful old coins, incidentally, are still legal tender in those parts—as legal as a chopper applied to the wrist or a red-hot iron to the tongue. Arabian Nights stuff, true, but for a sheer blood-and-thunder background the reader is commended to Masirah Island— barren, biscuit-coloured and green-fringed by shallows, as we saw it from the Valetta. It lies 1,100 miles from Aden, 15 miles from the coast of Oman, and, under an agreement with the Sultan of Muscat and Oman, the R.A.F. is in occupation of its north-eastern promontory. There is no cultivation and few fresh-water wells, but in the early monsoon months the beaches are alive with turtles, up to 5ft long, laying their eggs in the dunes and blotching the sand with their tears. Strange and fierce fish abound (with the CO.—F/O. D. Graham—we watched a 7ft shark landed and later relished shark for dinner); so it is hardly surprising that swim ming is strictly out—except in a disused water storage-tank. The reputed hide-out of Captain Kidd, Masirah could tell many a tale of scullduggery. It was only four years ago that a party of Mecca-bound pilgrims was forced ashore on the mainland opposite the island by the villainous skipper of their dhow. Five died from various privations, but the others contrived to get across to Masirah and were cared for by the R.A.F. There was a whip-round and a free flight to Aden. Less fortunate were crew-members of the Baron Inverdale, who put ashore for water in 1904 and were massacred to a man. The ship set course back to Aden and the Navy sent a sloop to put a few salvoes into the huts of the islanders. Today any such retribution would come from the R.A.F., though there is scant likelihood of its ever being called for. The Wali—who is the Sultan's representative on the island—seemed a friendly sort, with a taste for Players and a gambia (both decora tive and serviceable) tucked in his sash. We sat with him to watch the tribal dancing put on for us by his people and by the Aden Levies, and before we left next morning Buck gave him a circuit in the Valetta, which pleased him vastly. Masirah is established for 17 R.A.F. personnel and a squadron of Aden Protectorate Levies. The Levies are commanded by F/O. J. A. Basson, ex-Indian Army, and in his opinion they are almost the equal of Pathans. He ordered a mock assault for our edification—a Beau Geste indeed, as the picture confirms. Additionally, there are the Sultan of Muscat's coolies and a local Bedouin labour force under Mr. C S. Wallace, the station engineer. Train spotters have a thin time in those parts, for Mr. Wallace assured us that the Utile locomotive which hauls fuel from the dump is the only one between Port Sudan and Sharjah (2,000-odd miles). Air spotters have better service, and the station records show a genuine Anson Mk 1 from Muscat and a Commando of Air Djibouti. We left Masirah with reluctance and the Valetta struck north across a wilderness of mountains rearing as high as 10,000ft. These at length gave way to a coastal plain, upon which we sighted (Left) A.V-M. J. G. Hawtrey, C.B.E., A.O.C. Iraq. (Centre) "best blues" at Habboniya : (/. to r.) F/L. L. C. Packer (station adjutant) ; W/C. I. G. H. Drummond (commanding maintenance unit); W/C. A. N. Combe, A.F.C. (commanding admin, wing); W/C. J. Wilkin (commanding technical wing); GjC. R. A. T. Stowell, O.B.E., D.F.C. (station commander); W/C. M. \jj/. Coombes (commanding flying wing); S/L. N. N. Ezekiel (commanding a Lancaster P.R. squadron); S/L. P. H. P. Roberts (commanding a Vampire squadron). (Right) At A.H.Q. Iraq: (I. tor.) W/C. A. D. Forster, D.F.C. (W/C. Ops.); G/C. J. 0. W. Oliver, C.B., D.S.O., D.F.C. (S.A.S.O.); G/C. R. W. P. Collings, D.S.O., A.F.C. (S.O.A.).
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