EditionSpring 2013

Contents

Cover picture: The RAFPA Jack Eggleston Trophy3

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Chairman’s Chance

Comment!

Obituaries

Congratulations

Do you remember when..?

3 MFPS in Italy

A lap of the Island

Five in a Battle

A Photographers Odyssey - part 2

New Recruits

…..and finally

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Ok, admit it! At this time of year we all get ‘cabin fever’ if we are nottoo careful. No point in staying indoors but with the exceptional weatherconditions experienced thus far in 2013 who can blame you.I thought that I would include a couple of photos of my local golf course taken inlate January, not only to show that the conditions have made it extremely difficultto chase a little white ball around the fairways (if they were open) but also toshow you that it is a great opportunity to capture those rare ‘Kodak’ momentswith the white stuff; no the photos are not black and white, merely a reflection ofthe scene at the time. I am sure that many of you will have been out and about,camera in hand and I know that our editor would welcome any of your contribu-tions for later editions. Don’t be shy!

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DON’T FORGET THEPHOTO COMPETITION

for the ‘Joe Oliver’ AwardEntries in hard copy to 10” x 8” maximum, unmounted, on anyphotographic surface and not digitally enhanced. Dust removal ispermitted. Judging will take place at the annual reunion in October.

Send entries to:Mr D.Newham, RAFPA,

10, Hughes Close, Northway,Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire,

GL20 8SA.Tel: 01684 - 273744

Entries must arrive by 30th September

I would also like to take this opportunity to record a personal sadness inthe loss of an old friend Joe Oliver in December. Joe, during his long RAFservice was a mentor to many of us and more recently a frequent contributor toour magazine and one of our few Association Honorary Members.

Rest in peace Joe.This is also the time of year when we dream of escaping to warmer climates -postings to Akrotiri, Singapore, Malta etc., are now all a part of the distant past.It’s ok for those members who retired and are sunning it in downtown Welling-ton, New Zealand or those of you in sunny Capetown but spare a thought forthose in snowbound UK. It doesn’t however, have to be that way - with low costairlines willing to jet you around Europe for very little at this time of year andeven more hotels offering great deals for a winter escape. There is little reasonnot to do it! So, my message is, get out there, grab your camera and explorewhat Europe has to offer - after all, it is merely continuing what the RAFintroduced us all to, when we signed up! Travel to interesting places, plenty ofadventure and golden photo opportunities along the way. What are you waitingfor?

John Barry

Comment !

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Surprise, surprise!

Well despite all the snow, the daffsare peeking through and we havearrived at Edition 50 of Flashback!Yes, it was started 50 editions agoalthough it has to be said I have onlybeen editor since number 17, Christ-mas 2004! I remember the day well atmy first RAFBEPA reunion at FownesHotel in Worcester, nervously agree-ing to take on the journal from StuUsher who was to depart these shoresfor somewhere warmer, namely Oz.My nervousness stemmed from thefact that I never was a Boy Entrant,having started my RAF career at thetender age of 19 after deciding thatworking for W H Smith & Son was justnot exciting enough!My nervousness at taking on this won-derful journal was unfounded howeveras I have had magnificent supportfrom the membership by way of sub-mitted anecdotes from the heyday ofthe Royal Air Force. These memoriesare great to read about and form animportant part of the history of TradeGroup 14, although some of the esca-pades would probably have beenfrowned upon in their day had theauthorities known about a few of them!I am certain there are many morestories yet to be told, so keep up thegood work, pluck up the courage andspill the beans for all to read about!

With this edition you will find theapplication form for this year’s reun-ion. It was voted to continue at theMenzies Stourport Hotel and I ampleased to say our wonderful neworganiser, Chris Twiner has man-aged to negotiate the same prices aslast year. Great news, so there is noexcuse now, break open your piggybank and get your deposit off today.Stan Leeds has kindly offered to con-tinue to take the bookings and if youhave any questions about it, pleasecontact Stan direct as per the form.We had a record 80 members andwives/partners attend last year andall thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Something that does concern me abit is that I may be getting somewhatstale at the job of editor and perhapsit needs an injection of new blood!So, if anyone would like to take onthe task of producing our journalplease let me know, it would be niceto take a break from it after 33 issues!

Well 50 is a milestone to reach and itreminds me that next year will be myFiftieth wedding anniversary, so yetmore celebration!Thank you one and all for all yourcontributions, keep ‘em coming ladsand lasses. Lastly, I did hear that fishfingers are now contaminated………with seahorse meat!!!Take care till next time, regards,Chris, Editor.

Obituaries

641151 Sgt. George Joseph (Joe) Oliver21 July 1917 to 9 December 2012

It is with much sadness that we report the passing of Joe Oliver.Joe passed away on the 9th December 2012 aged 95 years. Thelast 6 months of his life had been very difficult but despite all hisworldly travels, he died in his own bed just 300 yards from wherehe was born. Some kind of record I would say!The funeral was at South Essex Crematorium in Upminster onThursday 27th December at 11.40 am.He was a much loved father, father-in-law, grandfather and greatgrandfather and colleague of many Royal Air Force personnel.Joe became an RAF Photographer in the early 1930’s, passingthrough the School of Photography at Farnborough and was oneof the early pioneers in modern photo reconnaissance, at a timewhen Sidney Cotton was coming to prominence.He has been a long standing member of firstly RAFBEPA andlatterly an honorary life member of RAFPA..

Rest in Peace Joe, you deserve it.

Brian TannerWe also have to report the passing another RAFPA member, BrianTanner on the 11th December 2012 at his home in Australia.He will be sadly missed but not forgotten by his wife Cathy.

If anyone has any further information (or a photo of Brian Tanner)please get in touch with me. Editor.

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We hope this is the right ‘Gladwin’, Editor!

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Congratulations to…..One of our members, Mick Gladwin, was awardedthe Meritorious Service Medal in the QueensBirthday Honours list 2012.We are not sure how this prestigious award wasmissed by Flashback but we have corrected theomission now! Well done Mick.Thanks to Al Horwood for pointing this out. Editor.

PPA 24 20 JULY 1972

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The continuing story of

No.3 MFPS

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More in the Summer Issue……

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Lap of the Island

Reading the title and realising thatI am writing about a motorbike adven-ture there is a certain assumption thatthe island is the Isle of Man, nothingas puny as that - the island in questionis Cyprus!I was stationed at RAF Akrotiri on thesouth coast of Cyprus, battling theMediterranean climate for the bestpart of three years – well someonehad to do the punishment postings, itgets better I also had a brilliant job! Iwas a photographer by trade andworked in the Non Destructive TestingSection with 103 Maintenance Unit(MU), the main on-camp project beingx-raying various bits of Vulcan bomb-ers. OK but for three days every fort-night I was locked in a darkroomprocessing massive numbers of 14” x17” sheets of film but that was my

penance for the opportunity of tra-vailing around the Med and to theMiddle East on regular trips support-ing the Section’s technicians, I evengot reasonably well paid – plus I hada motorbike.I was single and lived on-camp andthe guy in the room next to me hadrecently purchased a 200cc Hondatwin for which he had fabricated rearcarriers to carry 4 x 5 ltr metal cans(ex-thinners), two were for fuel andfor the other two he had cut the topsout and made lockable lids. His tankbag was made from waterproofedcanvas matched by a large bag ofthe same material attached to therear of the dual-seat. His other addi-tion was a Perspex screen attachedby tubular aluminium. He was a ‘rig-ger’ (airframe fitter) by trade and on

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the MU we had tradesmen and materi-als of every possible combination tomanufacturer parts and equipment tosupport the British Military and ofcourse anyone in uniform who askednicely! His project was to ride to the UKand back on two-weeks leave, not aninconsiderable task.On warm evenings I used to sit on thebalcony of the accommodation blockand discuss his trip with him, as hefettled his bike and I yearned to dosomething similar but then my eyesdrifted to my own bike and I realisedthat my ambitions had to be less chal-lenging as I only owned a Honda CD70and its modest 68cc! It came to me thenext day at work, during NAAFI break Iwent around to the Station Photograph-ic Section, the building next door to usand in the Crew Room asked the as-sembled troops how far they thought itwas by road around the coast of Cy-prus – after a brief discussion a dis-tance of approximately 400 miles wasagreed. That was it then, Easter intwo-week’s time – Lap of Cyprus!My preparation was fairly modest, d-i-yservice, new rear tyre, borrow a water-proof service issue sleeping bag fromRAF Mountain Rescue, I found andborrowed a large canvas camera bagin the Photo Section, washed out twoone litre screw top bottles, selected ablanket from my issue bedding andpacked. My pack-up consisted of; atowel, toothpaste, toothbrush, soapand toilet paper, two spare pairs ofpants and socks, a tee shirt plus a sunhat, swim shorts and flip flops, a pair oflong trousers and a quilted longsleeved jacket. I wore an open-facedhelmet with Stadium flip-up visor, teeshirt, shorts, canvas and leather workgloves and an old pair of lace-up bush

boots. I had maps; our Motor SportsClub had access to British militaryOS maps of the Island.Thursday 26th March - Mid-morningmy Flight Sergeant told me I couldget away if I wanted, it was too earlyfor lunch in the Mess so I nippedback to the block changed, packedand attaching my ‘survival kit’ to mybike with a length of nylon rope anda couple of these new-fangled bun-gee things and I was on-the-road.The temperature was in the upperseventies, very pleasant with a lightbreeze. Out of camp, down towardsKolossi and turn left, navigation waseasy – just keep the sea on my left!Through the British Sovereign Area(SBA), over the Bailey Bridge andon to RAF Episkopi where I had tomake my first stop for lunch in theNAAFI and fill my water bottles up,slight oversight! In 1970 there wasvery little development in southernCyprus and almost no tourists so theroads were fairly empty – but rub-bish! You could never ride withinthree foot of the edge of the roadbecause you never knew if therewas going to be a large chunk oftarmac missing, large pot holes 6” to10” deep and a foot across were

Honda CD70

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common anywhere where there wasa sealed surface. There was noroadbed to speak of and deteriora-tion was quick and frequent – yourode a bike on your reflexes and wit!I arrived at Paphos, in this era apeaceful fishing port with a few har-bour side bars. I dined on calamari,bread, fresh fruit and a bowl of yo-ghurt, excellent, washed down with abottle of water, small beer and acoffee probably all for less than acouple of quid. Having used the caféfacilities to have a good wash I set offto find somewhere to stay. The roadswung north and I was in the middleof nowhere, well except for the seaon my left where the sun was ap-proaching the horizon. I turned offthe road down a track towards thecoast, the track petered out and as Iwas no good off-road I stopped be-fore the end but just a few yardsaway there were a few low bushes inthe sand dunes. The sleeping bagturned out to be rather smelly al-though I had turned it inside out andaired it for a couple of days beforedeparture, I realised later that thetechnique was to turn it inside outduring the day when travelling to getthe sun and fresh air into the insula-tion. Lying in the sand inside the bag

on my blanket it was rather cosy as Iwatched the sun set over the Medalthough a couple of hours later I hadto get up and put all my remainingclothes on as the temperature hadplummeted. Another surprise duringthe night was being awakened by aherd of goats as they wanderedthrough my encampment.Friday 27th March - I awoke early,the sun was inland and behind meand I was freezing and staving! Acouple of pints of water are not thebest start to the day but would haveto do when combined with a wash.Shaving was out, I had never wetshaved and my electric razor wasmains powered – I would have to dowithout! I kept all my clothes on androde north. The first two small villag-es I passed through were devoid offacilities but after a while I came to apetrol station. Yesterday I realisedthat not only did I not know whatMPG my bike did I also had no ideahow much fuel the tank held, I decid-ed that 90mpg and 1.25 gallonswould be my formula = 100 milerange. My fuel stop was very anti-quated and an even more ancientlady all in black came out to dispensemy fuel. She had no English but therewas a truck parked up and I guessedthat the guy seated outside was thedriver and he was eating! He hadexcellent English, having worked forthe Brits and he kindly organisedbreakfast for me; omelette, bread,fresh fruit and coffee, I also re-filledmy bottles. I told him I was headingfor Cape Arnuti (top left corner of theIsland) but he advised that I wouldprobably have to come back downthe road I went up as he did not thinkthe final bit of un-surfaced track

Old Fort, Paphos

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would be suitable for my bike. So Idecided to cut the corner off and headdirect for Polis. It was OK to start withbut soon I was winding my way uphillover a small mountain range throughfresh smelling forests, which made areal change, well the hills would havebeen small on a bigger bike but withonly 68cc it was a challenge! The roadwas narrow and punctuated with tightbends, but the biggest challenge waswhenever I met another vehicle, nor-mally a truck coming downhill with nointention of giving way even if he couldhave stopped, which I doubted – theMOT test had not reached Cyprus!The choice was either brake and headfor the roadside gravel or accelerateand head for the roadside gravel; I hada couple of moments but only came offonce at a very slow speed but eventhen grazed my lower leg, knee andelbow. Polis appeared to have somesort of industry, the effluent from whichwas being pumped into the Med, Idon’t know what it was but it was verycolourful! Lunch of bread rolls, cheesesome fruit and a bottle of Coke then,push on for Keryneia. Initially the roadimproved but then slipped back to Cy-prus-Three-Ply, in the UK three-plyroads are normally little used tarmacand have grass growing down the cen-tre, here it was a narrow strip of tarmacwith loose gravel either side. I decidedthat with the poor road conditions andmy relative slow speed any thought ofnipping up to Cape Kormakiti, off to myleft was out of the question, I estimatedit would add at least 2-hours to my day,2-hours I did not have. As I nearedKeryneia the road got better even ex-cellent, fuel and a roadside snack andmore fluid, it was getting much warmereven hot - dehydration was a real pos-

sibility. It was a hot day but with theMed on my left and the mountainsrising immediately on my right it wasquite picturesque and although slowthe riding was OK, apart from thesaddle which was probably de-signed for commuting - not touring. Idecided not to stop in Keryneia butpush on to one of the beaches to theeast of the town, an area I had visit-ed before. It was dark when I arrivedat Six-Mile Beech but I got a reallygood meal at the café on the head-land together with a really, reallycheap bottle of red plonk. When thecafé closed I rolled my bike down tothe beach and went for a moonlightswim. There were free outdoorshowers and it must have been mid-night by the time I had changed intoclean kit and bedded down at the topof the beach, it was still warm andafter a really hard day I was knack-ered.Saturday 28th March – I awoke witha light shining in my eyes and as Irealised what was happening a chillof apprehension passed throughme. There were three of them,speaking Turkish, not to me butsomeone off to one side but at leastthe torch had gone out. I got the tophalf of me out of the sleeping bagand got my glasses out of the stow-

Kyrenia Harbour

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age in my bondu boot so could nowsee what was going on. It was abright moonlight night and a newfigure approached from the directionof my bike and he asked in excellentEnglish if I was British Army, I ad-vised that I was Royal Air Force, heasked for my ID, it took me an age tofind my wallet inside the sleeping bagand produce it, the torch came backon and my Form 1250 was examinedtogether with me. I was advised thatthis was a restricted area and that Ishould get dressed and come withthem, the officer said that he regret-ted the inconvenience but he wouldarrange accommodation for me inthe village. My kit was put in the backof their dilapidated Land Rover I satin the front with the Officer and one ofhis men rode my bike behind thecouple of miles to the village. Withthe better light of the village it ap-peared that they were Turkish Army,this was a bit of a shock, as I writethis account many years later I knowthat the Turkish invasion of Cypruswould not happen for another fouryears! A few men appeared in thevillage square and I was taken to abuilding, the schoolhouse where mykit was carried in and my bike alsowheeled inside. A lady appeared witha plate of salad, half a loaf of breadand a small jug of red wine, moreplonk! While this was going on every-one was most pleasant with muchsmiling. Even if it was one o’clock inthe morning I was not going to passover my free meal and after eating Imade myself comfortable sleepingon top of my sleeping bag lying on aselection of rugs that I gathered upfrom around the edges of the room. Iawoke to the knocking on the door

and an old lady dressed in blackcame in carrying a mug and jug, shesaid a few words and left, the jugcontained hot water and the mug cof-fee. I found the loos out back and gotmyself cleaned up. Outside there wasa guy in civilian clothing carrying agun, my guard? He walked me over tothe bar and in a back room there waslast nights Officer, we had breakfasttogether. Cold meat (this was wellbefore my transition to a veggie), friedpotatoes with fresh bread and somesort of jam washed down with morecoffee and a handful of red grapes –three meals in 12-hours, I was goingto explode! I asked about paying formy food and accommodation but Iwas told that I was a guest of theCypriot Turkish community. The Offic-er told me that he had studied Englishin Bristol and later worked in Londonbefore returning home and beingcommissioned in the Turkish Army,his role in Cyprus as a liaison officerwas official; but he asked that I did notmention our meeting, I thought that agood idea. Outside my bike and kithad been brought over to the bar, Ipacked and left, it was still only0730hrs but today was a long day andI needed to get a move on. Travellingeast and then south I climbed up theridge that would get me on the otherside of the mountain range and thenheaded across the flat and boringplain to the east coast.After the left turn that would take meup the pan-handle and to Cape An-dreas I stopped after a couple of hun-dred metres and found somewhere toleave all the kit I would not need, thatwould be everything apart from mywater bottles as I hoped to be backthis way in a couple of hours, a de-

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pression with some bushes around itwould be OK. With all the kit re-moved even a 68cc bike was a joy toride although the saddle was the realdown side of my trip! The tarmacwas good and I met very few vehi-cles, village after village zoomed by,dodging dogs was the main hazard– if you slowed down they tried tobite you and you speeded up theytried to run under the front wheel andhave you off – then bite you! The lastfew miles were gravel but fairlygood, I rode slowly! I walked up tothe ridge above the sea the mosteasterly point of Cyprus; it was warmwith a slight breeze and it was veryclear, was that Turkey I could see tothe north and perhaps Syria to theeast? I stopped for a snack and drinkon the return leg collecting my kitand then heading southwest to-wards Famagusta. I stopped for fuelon the outskirts of the town andsought advice from the guy in theshop; I headed for a couple of high-rise buildings - new hotel develop-ments. I rode around for some timetrying to get an idea of the layout ofthis end of town; it was early eveningwhen I eventually I rode into a hotelcar park and parked up next to anoutdoor seating area covered withhuge umbrellas. There were fiveyoung blokes around a table nearme and by their lack of suntan hadprobably only just arrived. Theystared at me as I sorted myself outand I spoke to them, they asked if Iwas a Brit and seemed surprised todiscover I was in the RAF and hadbeen in Cyprus for 16-months, oneof them suggested I was a luckybugger! I joined them for a beer andtold them of my expedition, they ap-

peared amazed, we were all aboutthe same age, 24 in my case and thiswas their first trip abroad and it ap-peared they did not do much at homeeither. They were sharing two roomsin the hotel and when I asked aboutplans for the evening they were hap-py to go along with any ideas I had.With the excitement of a hot showerand a clean towel in one of theirrooms I even purchased a new T-shirt from the hotel shop. Theevening started with a trip down thedocks, which was rather seedy andthen progressed to the nightclub ar-ea, somewhere along the way two ofthe lads wandered off with a coupleof British girls so when we got backto the hotel I had the luxury of a bedto sleep in.Sunday 29th March – Another show-er in the morning and an excellentfree-of-charge breakfast. We spentthe morning on the beach then an-other free meal at lunchtime as thelads were on full board. It was nicenot to have to sit on the bike for awhile, that saddle had become a realkiller plus it was an opportunity toclean up my gravel rash, the bit onmy elbow was looking pretty grotty.Feeling a bit guilty in the afternoon Irode down to Ayia Napa and on toCape Greco, in this era Ayia Napawas just a simple village, three of thelads arrived by taxi and we had a fewbeers in the local bar after which oneof the lads asked if he could ride mybike back to the hotel. In the eveningwe were five, one of the lads hadreturned but I never saw the otherone again, this was good-news andbad-news, I still had a bed but had tochange rooms! With a bit of formfrom yesterday we got organised and

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went out early, there were a coupleof really good sea food restaurants inthe old town and we choose well withan excellent meal, but missed out onthe freebie at the hotel! This eveningI introduced the lads to Cypriot wine,standard white was St Panteleimonand red Othello plus we tested acouple of local sherries but I don’tthink wine was their normal tippleand they all got rather wrecked!Monday 30th March – Yet anotherfree breakfast in the hotel and I wason the road by 1000hrs and thehome leg. In this era Cyprus had notdiscovered motorways, or evenmore than a few main roads ,so afterheading along the coast towardsLarnaca then turned inland to pick upthe main Nicosia to Limassol road. Iarrived at the Half-Way House in theearly afternoon. This venue was theprecursor to the ‘motorway servicearea’, Little Chef and McDonalds indriving terms and I cannot think of anoccasion when I travelled on thisroad when I did not stop here. Bigtrees shaded the outside seating ar-ea, the food was excellent andcheap – it was the place to chill outas you watched the traffic passingand not a lot of that, pick-up taxisstopped here to exchange passen-gers travelling to differing locations. Ienjoyed a cheese omelette withchips and salad washed down with alarge bottle of local lemonade – bril-liant. The run down to Limassol wason a well surfaced but bumpy roadbut I had to be careful of the othertraffic, now travelling much faster.Last fuel stop in Limassol then downBlack Mack Avenue where I stoppedoutside a closed but well lit car show-room to change into trousers and

long sleeved shirt as it was now wellafter 1800hrs and there would beagro if I tried to get into Camp inshorts – but there was anyway. Outof town on the road that would takeme past the turning to Troodos, but atrip to the mountains would have towait for another day, turn left towardsAkrotiri, passing the salt lake on myleft and 280 Signals Unit on the righton the well-surfaced SBA road to theouter check point where I encoun-tered the ever helpful and polite RAFPolice. The ‘jumped-up’ Corporalspent an age scrutinising my ID cardand me, eventually he told me toreport to the Guardroom on my wayinto Camp for a document check. Atthe Guardroom a similar bolshie Ser-geant RAF Policeman came out tolook at my bike, my documents andme then went inside to check if mybike was registered on Camp. Whenhe came back he asked why I wasun-shaven, I explained a brief outlineof my trip, he asked when I was nexton duty, I had great pleasure in tell-ing him that that was not until the dayafter tomorrow when I was flyingover to Malta on duty for a couple ofdays. He told me to get a shave andwent inside. I rode the last couple ofhundred metres down to the Penin-sular Club where the first two glass-es of Keo tops did not touch thesides – then my favourite NAAFIdelicacy, two rounds of cheese ontoast with a big dollop of brownsauce, another Keo tops and I wasoff to bed – I slept well!John LewisIn my day (until 1969) in Cypruswe were banned from the extremewest and east of the island. Ed.

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Five

men

in a

Bat

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A Photographers Odyssey - Part 2

It was a welcome relief, after threeweeks at sea, to finally to becomeaccommodated in a non-pitching androlling bed on a ground floor room ofGibson Block at Royal Air Force Ten-gah in February 1960. Each roomhoused ten men with two additionalrooms at each end accommodatingtwo corporals. A ‘bearer’ was providedto clean, room bed space, and shoesetc. at a cost of $2.00 (Malayan Dol-lars) per fortnight. The exchange rateat the time was $8.56 to the £1-0-0(Pound Sterling) Also in attendancewas an elderly Chinese woman, re-ferred to as Sew! Sew!, who wasavailable to look after, for a smallpayment, minor clothing repairs.

Mosquito net, ‘mug’ and ‘irons’ wereadded to our new tropical kit, andduring the early days after arrival theformer was used religiously after sun-down. I remember clearly the annoy-ance of hearing a high-pitched buzzaround one’s ears created by a roguemosquito, which had somehow be-come trapped and enclosed within themosquito net envelope, and prevent-ed early attempts to fall asleep. Onlyin the morning would it be revealed bya telltale blood spot on the pillow thatcrushing head movements occurringduring disturbed sleep had dis-patched the blood-sucking insect.

Also after dark, in the tropics, theambient noise levels seem to beincreased considerably by the nightsounds of many species of insects,and small house friendly lizards,more commonly know locally as‘chit-chats.’ Tropical storms addi-tionally, because of their ferocity,would account for some sleeplessnights, particularly during one of themonsoon seasons when they werefar more frequent. Acclimatisation tomost of the new experiences of lifein the tropics seemed to take abouttwo or thee weeks, although highhumidity levels took perhaps a littlelonger.

High on the priority list, for me, wasto get and become acquainted withthe local beverages. On ‘camp’ atTengah we had, in 1960, theN.A.A.F.I. and a Malcolm Club,which served locally produced Tigerdraught or Anchor bottled beer (la-ger). It did not take me very long todiscover, much to the amusementof my audience, that the local ‘plonk’was a lot stronger than the brews Iwas previously accustomed to. Itwas a pint for pint comparison thatgot me under the ‘mozzie-net’ a lotearlier than expected and a sorehead the following day. However,in the fullness of time, both respect

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PR7 WH777

of and practice in consumption would pay off dividends when in the social mood.The word ‘practice’ has another meaning in this context as whilst on ‘camp’ allpersonnel enjoyed duty free prices for alcoholic beverages but downtown andor off ‘camp’ all drinks purchased were duty paid and that represented quite adifference in price. Therefore, if an evening off camp was planned it was thecustom to have a ‘few’ on ‘camp’ before going to town, with the intention to keepthe cost of a hangover down. In those days payday occurred once a fortnight,instead of the then time honoured weekly pay parade, and as a result thisseemed to place an extra burden on cash management. However, for emergen-cies it was quite common to have a bar-bill/slate credit arrangement at the localTengah Bar. Other entertainment venues consisted of the ‘camp’ Astra cinema,frequent visits to the Tengah Bar, number 2 Mess in Bukit Panjang, andfollowing a fluid evening downtown attending a midnight movie screened at one

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Royal Air Force Tengah

of the major cinemas in the Singa-pore’s city area. I am convinced thatmany of those who booked seats inadvance, and actually attended thoseperformances actually stayed awakefor the whole film. Indeed, it was usu-al at those midnight screenings toshow early runs of the epics of theday. For example ‘Ben Hur’, ‘Sparta-cus’ and ‘Giant’, each of which had arunning time of around three hours.

Within a couple of days of my arrivalto RAF Tengah I was in for a pleasantsurprise after reporting to the ser-geant, ‘Taff ‘Davies in charge thecamera room of 81(PR) Squadron.Our working day started at 0700hrsand finished at 1300hrs! Wow! Thisseemed like a permanent holiday andfull advantage was taken to use timeoff. The reason for these hours camefrom the fact that we were then onlyoperating Gloster Meteor PR10’s anda couple of Percival Pembroke C(PR)1’s which, because of their flyingrange and local weather conditionscould only be useful for air reconnais-sance for a few hours during the mid-dle part of the day. At that time,during 1960, 81 Squadron did haveon charge one English Electric Can-berra PR7 WH777 (‘trouble seven’),

and a CanberraT4 WH651, but werenot generally very active. We alsohad, just down the road our veryown 81 squadron processing ‘facto-ry’, which was responsible for all ourair film processing and printing witha Warrant Officer in charge by thename of Frank Richardson. In all foran SAC Photographer II these werehalcyon days, which could not andwould not last forever, as I will relatefurther on. If my memory serves mecorrectly night flying was conductedone evening per month for the pur-pose of allowing the squadron pilotsto maintain their currency qualifica-tions. For the ground crew it was awelcome opportunity to beg to occu-py a spare seat to get some airbornetime in either the Meteor T7 or Pem-broke. If lucky enough to be chosenthe payback would usually entailbeing ‘dropped off’ from the Pem-broke, which could carry five or sixpassengers, upon final landing forthe evening along somewhere alongthe perimeter track to assist in mar-shalling the aircraft back to theirrespective parking places. We thenhad to help refuelling the participat-ing night flying aircraft before disap-pearing to the NAAFI, before itclosed.

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Ex Mercury at Kuala Lumpa 1960

Having just come from number543 (PR) Valiant equipped squad-ron and now posted to work on Me-teor PR10’s and Pembrokerepresented quite a new if not novelchallenge considering the obviousdifference between the most mod-ern and the obsolete.As I recall, our handful of Meteorswere often bedded down overnightin the Bellman Hanger just shortdistance from the squadron head-quarters and relevant ground crewbuildings. So early morning pre-flight inspections were sometimesundertaken prior to their beingtowed to their spot on the apron.Due to the high humidity our cameraroom was air-conditioned, much tothe envy of the rest of the groundcrew. Immediately outside our cam-era room was a couple of tarpaulin-covered custom made trolleys eachof which could accommodate 6F52’s and their separate maga-zines. The purpose of this was toallow the ‘load’ to acclimatise beforepulling to and installing into the air-craft. This because immediately out

of air-conditioning our photographicequipment would soon be coated incondensation.These were the days only just beforethe introduction of ‘centralized serv-icing’ where it was common for anindividual ground crew member to beresponsible for one particular air-craft. I also enjoyed this custom andmy allocated ‘kite’ was Meteor PR10WB165. We did, of course work, asrequired, on other aircraft but I canonly say that we each had a veryspecial pride and relationship in ourparticular charge.

The Meteor PR10 usually car-ried three cameras. In the noseeither a port or forward facing 8”F2accessed by a panel securedby about sixteen spring loadedDzus fasteners. The rear hatchhoused 2 F52’s of 14”, 20” or 36”focal length. The F52’s were of-fered complete with their type 46mounts, into the hatch initiallywith the lens facing upwards andmanipulated through the slightlyundersize opening until the cam-

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Meteor PR10 of 81 Squadron 1960

era and mounting was inside theaircraft. The assembly was thencarefully offered over the fixed cam-era support rails and gently pivotingto bring the lens cone down until itassumed the correct way up andwas looking out of it’s representativecamera port. The 2 F52’s occupieda position fore and aft of the rearhatch. By experience the 36” F52’swere the most challenging to installor remove because of extremespace limitations. With the film mag-azine fitted only a couple of inchesseparated the top of the ‘Mag’ fromthe top of the fuselage. It was alsoquite common to receive cuts andabrasions, particularly when unin-stalling F52’s when gravity, and im-patience had injury to you in mind.Proud split pins on gearboxes wouldoften leave their scratch marks onone’s forehead. A Type 35 for theF52’s, and a Type 48 camera con-trol for the F24 were positioned ontheir sides on the upper port side ofthe rather cramped cockpit. Onefinal worry was that the MeteorPR10 was fitted with an early ver-sion of the Martin Baker ejectionseat and observance of the correctlocation of the safety pins was para-

mount to one’s expected longlife.

The Pembroke was an entirely dif-ferent animal by being both agreea-ble and comfortable to work on, withno obvious working space restric-tions or limitations. A typical cam-era fit comprised of 2 F52’s with thechoice of 14”, 20” or 36” lenses, andone 6” vertical F49 survey camera.Additionally a port facing obliqueF24 could be installed in a specialframe mounting attached the upperside of the port fuselage.

81 Squadron’s last Meteor photoreconnaissance detatachment wasto participate in Exercise Mercurybased at Royal Air Force KualaLumpur, which coincidently was justto its closure and subsequent hand-ing over to the Royal Malaysian AirForce. Just two of our MeteorPR10’s and the Meteor T7 wereinvolved. Some ground crew weretransported to K.L. by a Royal NewZealand Bristol Freighter (Vibrator),whilst the remainder suffered anovernight journey by train. Unfortu-nately I travelled by the latter. How-ever, it was the custom for service

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Pembroke C - PR1 Astra Cinema at Tengah

personnel travelling on troop trainsduring the Communist Terrorist cam-paign in Malaya to carry weapons,which were to be returned and signedoff at an armoury on arrival at one’sfinal destination, The troop train usual-ly departed Singapore’s main railwaystation and around 1900hrs and wasexpected to arrive at Kuala Lumpur’shighly ornate station the followingmorning at around 06.30hrs. The trainwas crammed with Army, Navy and AirForce personnel, so getting goodnights sleep was out of the question.Time was passed consuming tins ofTiger and playing cards, which result-ed ultimately in a few sore heads andempty pockets the following morning.Fortune eventually smiled on me, as Iwas lucky enough to win a game ofTombola, in the NAAFI later on, withenough to make good my losses in-curred playing pontoon on the ‘train’with some Navy ratings. My return toTengah, after conclusion of the exer-cise, was an uncomfortable, but muchspeedier journey in the noisy and earshattering Bristol ‘Vibrator’.

It was with great sadness that duringearly 1961, and without ceremony, ourbeloved Meteor PR10’s were brokenup and written off. Holes werepunched into the sides of the fuselag-es with the pointed ends of crowbarsjust to deliver the coup-de-grace. Oneday they were flying and the next re-duced to scrap! The Pembrokes didnot suffer the same fate of the Meteorsand were returned to the UK and sub-sequently allocated to number 60Squadron in Germany fly out their re-maining days. For 81(PR)Sqn an erahad ended and a new one com-menced.

By now 81(PR) Squadron operatedexclusively English Electric Canber-ra PR7’s and a single T4, and shiftworking was introduced. Centralizedservicing came into being and 81squadron’s dedicated processingfactory assumed the new identity ofPhSS (Photo Services Section) andwas no longer under 81 Squadron’sadministration. I was promoted toCorporal, put in charge of the earlyshift for the Canberra PR7’s but wasmade available to fill in other shortterm vacancies as they occurred onthe station. With little warning I mightsuddenly find myself as number oneon a multiprinter, continuousprocessing unit, or pre-flight inspect-ing Gloster Javelin FAW9 and Hawk-er Hunter FGA9 aircraft flown byrival squadrons whenever they wereshort staffed due to leaves or illness-es etc.Life on the squadron had changedfor everyone, but there was onecommon feature we all enjoyed, andthat was how we spent our leaves.Adventures and travelling to exoticplaces, of which some have alreadybeen described, but there are manymemorable experiences yet un-told……….

Maurice Cooper

Fantastic story and memoriesMaurice, we look forward tohearing some more. Editor.

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34

NewrecruitDavid Beeton started his service career in1967 at Cosford and had postings to:Wyton, Malta, Sigonella, Cosford (ACF7),Brawdy, Bruggen, Aldergrove, Cosford,Leuchars and Scampton.Welcome David.

We are NOTkidding!

Thank you to all thosemembers who have re-newed their membershipfees promptly. To thosethat have still to cough up,you have until 31st March,after which it will also costyou a rejoining fee!

Gerry Linsteadh 01223 - 565244

m 07754 - 891846

Wel

com

e

and finally..….…….

? “Oh,oh, I think one of us has just spoiltthe bath water! M.C.

“Where’s the snowman gone?”

“I told him it wasn’t an ice cream tub”

“I love the way ‘Snowy’ just meltsinto the background!”

Captions please

for the 2 fat fliers !

NOTE:Humour in Blue should return

in the Summer Issue

Material for inclusion in the next issue of Flashback should bereceived by Monday 13th May 2013 please. Please send picturesas low resolution ‘jpegs’ separately from any ‘word’ document.Address is inside front cover. Any hard copy posted to us will bescanned and returned, usually by return post. Thank you, Editor.