Masirah Island - Part II

In the mess bar on our 4th night we were joined by 2 recently arrived Flight Engineers who,

by the time the 'pop' had kicked in, invited the 2 of us concerned for a junket in a 

Hercules Transport Aircraft.

The flight would take us some 1000 miles to the Omani airbase at Salalah on the mainland and would also include some tactical flight training in both directions. Too good to turn down we awarded ourselves a day off and early morning the next day we were off! My travel companion was

 Diver Dave (Taffy) Davis from Pompey - left of picture.

 (Graham Wooldridge and Timmy Malcolm right)

Sensitivity across most of the Arabian Peninsula didn’t allow for any sort of imagery but,

to describe this as a fantastic trip would be underselling it by a Royal Mile.

Ready for Take Off

Not knowing much about military aircraft it had always been considered that the

Hercules was something of a hulk and not really capable of tactical flying as say a jet fighter. The stay was only a short one, time for lunch and a chat with the locals, but the self imposed myth was to be dispelled on the way back in graphic detail and at very close quarters!

Once levelled out and still at relatively low altitude the Co-Pilot came into the passenger / cargo bay and took one of the ‘uncomfortable’ canvas deck-chair like seats next to me. Asking my opinion of things so far my reply was “exciting” to which he said, “well it’s about to get even more so as I am quite happy to sit here for the rest of the flight while you take over my seat up front”!

 This really was a 'once in a lifetime' and still maintain that sparks could be seen from the wing-tips as we flew along canyons and mountainsides alike. However, the BEST was surely saved until last as the pilot conducted what is referred to as a

Beat-Up Landing

 As the wheels touched the tarmac simulated gunfire was heard with the Captains reaction

being to pull back on the joy-stick to gain fast and high altitude!

This I was told later caused a force of 4G on the human body which was quite a pressure,

but we were soon back in the beer bar!

It was said later that the Pilot had complained of not being able to see the direction (table tennis) bats properly which set one or 2 wags to work the following day.

It was me that was chossen to direct the same Pilot to the stand the following day

with huge bats he couldn't possibly miss.

The job was completed to the satisfaction of the Sultan and RAF overseers with already rumour that there might be a second visit required. On the strength of that it was decided among the 3 of us from Portland to play it down as "not much fun" to disuade others from volunteering. 

That is precicely what happened with just the 3 Portland contingent going out for a further 2 weeks to salvage and sell what equipment was left before the UK left the Omani Military to their own devices.
Nothing at all to report from Local Areas
but would seem from elsewhere Moths are starting to move!