After leaving Halton in 1958 three further years were spent at Duxford in Cambridgeshire on 64 Sqn Javelins, Then after the runway was re-laid, the airmens' mess completely refurbished and more work to bring the station up to the requirements of a modern fighter station Duxford was closed down! The Squadron then moved from Duxford, just south of Cambridge, to Waterbeach, just north of Cambridge, where we resumed flying or as much flying as our Javelins would allow.

After a while I was put on PWR's (Pre-warning Roster) for a posting abroad. At last here was my chance to go to exotic places, meet people of a different culture and explore their land! My first three choices were Germany, Hong Kong and Singapore. After two weeks embarkation leave I returned to learn of what fate had dealt me.

El Adem, Libya. Eighteen miles south into the Sahara desert from Tobruk, a re-fuelling stop surrounded by barbed wire and WW2 minefields! You have probably staged through there during your time and thought, "some poor devils have been posted here!" Well one of those poor devils was me, for two years!

Enough of this sympathy seeking (to no avail I'll be bound) I will continue. I arrived there in the October of 1961 to find that TASS (Transit Aircraft Servicing Flight) had a surplus of engine fitters so I was seconded for a year to the ground equipment section. The second year I spent working on TASS but when it was time for me to return home there were not enough engine men so I had to stay for a further month!

It was in the summer of 1963 when the incident occurred. My mate and me had just left the NAAFI after a little liquid refreshment when we heard the whistle of jet engines. Seven silver arrows circled overhead. "They look like Migs", I laughed. They circled and landed………They were Migs!! Five Mig 15s and two Mig 15u's (the two seat version.) On route from Algeria to Egypt one had developed a fuel flow problem and they had all "lobbed in"!! A friend from SHQ later told me that the lines between El Adem and the UK were red hot and it was decided to keep it all "low key". The Migs were made to park at the far south of the pan well away from any other UK aircraft passing through. A bus was sent down to transport the aircrew back to "movements". All the windows down one side of the bus were blanked over so that they couldn't see what aircraft we had parked on the pan. A short while later an Ilushin landed, their ground crew disembarked and fixed the problem. The Mig crews then re-mounted the bus and were transported back to their aircraft. Unfortunately no one had thought to blank out the other side of the bus windows so they had a grandstand view as they drove back by us!!

Within a short time they had taken off as mysteriously as they came and to this day no mention was ever made of it in the Western press.

Post Script. About ten years ago John Moir, who was one of the volunteers running The El Adem Radio Service (TEARS) in the mid 1960s went on the "web" to get in touch with a few old mates. He was inundated with replies from El Ademites all over the world! He then began The Friends of the El Adem Radio Service and the membership this year passed the 500 mark! There is now an annual reunion and this November 04 I attended their 7th at a hotel in Northampton where all enjoyed a dinner and dance. We even have our own Website

Three years in Cambs and then two years in El Adem.Who did you upset up at RAF Records Tod? Ed