The Trials and Tribulations of Alan England.

152 Squadron in action in the Trucial Oman

Having left a warm UK in February it was a great surprise stepping off our 'Crab Air' VC10 at Muharraq, Bahrain to find it was colder than the UK!

At Muharraq we were introduced to our Squadron Leader CO of 152 'Hyderabad 'Squadron and OC of A flight, who flew the glamorous high- speed Percival Pembroke. While we of B flight, with our Flight Lieutenant CO, were based at the sharp end at Sharjah and flew in the illustrious Twin Pioneer.

More avid readers may be interested in the fact that 152 Squadron was formed in 1918 as a night fighter squadron flying Sopwith Camels and disbanded at the end of the war. It reformed in 1938 as fighter squadron with the Gloucester Gladiator, soon to be replaced with the Spitfire. The squadron saw service in the Battle of Britain, Malta and Burma before disbandment. The name" Hyderabad", together with a Dastard (Ruler's headdress) as the squadron badge, was in recognition of the donation of Spitfires to RAF by the Nizam of Hyderabad.
Arrival at RAF Sharjah, with a Wing Commander CO, was like stepping back in time. The control tower was in a "Beau Geste" type fort.

All six of us new boys on B flight, three pilots and three navigators, then had a formal presentation by the CO of the Trucial Oman Scouts [TOS] of our shemagh (the red and white Bedouin headdress) and agal (the black cord that held it in place on the head). Our major role was working with the TOS, doing communication, exercises, casevac and supply.
One of our less glamorous tasks was flying to Rasal Kahman for the fruit and vegetable run. We would load up the aircraft, fumigate it, then board it ten minutes later to find the cockpit temperature over 140 F and full of dead flies! Do not remember that in the advertisement about becoming 'steely eyed aircrew'!

Some of the airstrips that we used included:
Jebel Akhdar, Muscat, 6000 feet up. The runway was very short, which had a sheer drop one end and mountain the other, with the remains of a Venom aircraft at one end, shot down by insurgents, fortunately they had been sorted out by the SAS.

Salalah, Muscat. Unfortunately the insurgents were still active and the odd mortar was lobbed at the strip.

Masirah, where great pleasure was gained in showing visiting 'Crab Air' aircrew to the loo when requested directions to the TV room, as we had no TV in the Gulf. I was fortunate to view the turtle laying their eggs on the island, one of the few spots this event occurs worldwide.

Muscat Town, where the town gates were locked at sunset and you were then only able to walk the town with a lantern.
Burami Oasis, again with its Beau Geste fort and scene of confrontation with Saudi Arabia in 1955 until they were sorted out by the TOS.

Liwa Hollows, which was in the middle of nowhere, with the strip carved into dunes 300 feet high. On one occasion we had to abort the flight when our primary navigation aid, The Mark 1 Eyeball, failed due to poor visibility!

During the course of my tour I indulged in sailing. I was able to take sailing teams to Bahrain and Abu Dahbi, where we were air lifted out from the sailing club by helicopter. In those days it was easy to arrange air transport. However, sailing came to an abrupt end during the Arab/ Israeli Six Day War when the sailing compound was burnt down with our two catamarans. Some Palestinians saw visiting Hunter aircraft taking off for the range and they thought they were en route for Israel! Would you believe the next day we had some Palestinians visit the sick bay with burns admitting how they got burnt! The local sheikh dealt with the problem by giving free transport by boat to volunteers to join the war! Problem solved.

I was also able to take up riding, as the TOS felt it was part of their tradition to have horses, not just any old horses but beautiful Arab horses, which needed exercising. So I frequently took to riding on the beach at dawn, with the horse being in charge rather than the rider!

The biggest event to affect me was when the CO volunteered me to set up and run a desert survival school! Unfortunately I was unable to come up with any good reasons to get out of this mission.
I was sent to RAF El Adem for training, this was to take nearly a month, as I had to go by "Crab Air" VC10 via Muharraq to Cyprus, which was easy enough. The problem was Cyprus to El Adem. My first attempt in a Canberra ended at the end of the runway!
Eventually I made by it Hastings via Malta [cannot escape the place], where I took the liberty of having a few days R&R. After the course, which I have to admit had not enhanced my knowledge, I returned to Sharjah, borrowed a Land rover from the desert survival team, put on my ' Lawrence of Arabia' gear and set out into the desert to find a suitable site to run the survival school. Fortunately I got slightly lost and ended up in an encampment run by a Scotsman drilling for water. So after a swim in the pool, a curry supper and parting with a bottle of whisky I had found my ideal site {I think they call it imitative}.
Thereafter I was able to run a few survival courses in great safety. While the 'victims' survived in their tents with temperatures of 130F and even had the odd Bedouin visit requesting water from their rations, yours truly enjoyed a swim, curry supper and spent the night in an air-conditioned tent, all for the price of a bottle of whisky.

I also received an AOC commendation!

I also have memories of my Honda motor bike running out of petrol en route to Dubai, fortunately the local AA were very good, the first lorry stopped, put the bike in the back and dropped me off at the nearest petrol station, no charge.
The Trucial Scouts certainly knew how to entertain with their TOS Ball, which had a 'surplus of women' as they had, at great cost, been flown in from all over the Gulf. Yours truly arrived at the mess at 2000 hours to be greeted by a piper and departed the next day at 0800;I can say it was the best function I had ever attended.
During our tour we were given the choice of a free flight to UK for R&R or two weeks in Kenya, which included a weeks safari and a week in the 5* Norfolk Hotel Nairobi, all inclusive, with flight, for £35! Yes you guessed correctly this was the option I took.

Unfortunately the good life came to an end in September and we became part of the real RAF, with the closure of Aden. Argosy aircraft were then based at Sharjah and we had Group Captain CO.
Finally on the 15 November 1967 the illustrious 152 Hyderabad Squadron was disbanded at RAF Muharaq.
Today Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat have all developed and become tourist destinations, a far cry from the sort of places they had been when I was posted to Sharjah. Little did I realise then that it was to be the end of an era, one that I have been very fortunate and privileged to participate in.

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