The year 1965 began with the arrival of a new pilot, Flt Lt Frank Grimshaw, and a refurbishment Hunter, FR.10, XE589 from the UK with Flight Commander Ralph Chambers at the controls. The monthly flying hours target of 100 hours was exceeded and a balanced flying training programme was completed. Of the eleven operational sorties, one was a flagwave, six were photo and visual recces, two were pre-strike recces and one sortie was flown to guard a Beverley operating at Mukeiras.
February was a rather uneventful month from the military point of view. While nine operational sorties were flown, and the target of 100 hours achieved, it often seemed that the main area of interest was the worsening internal security situation in the Aden State. Of the operational sorties, six were visual and photo recce, one was a search for a road block in the Urqub pass and two were flown as a pair to locate and photograph the Esso Lincoln in the Red Sea. On the training front, two officers carried out a Desert Survival exercise and Flt Lt Grimshaw continued to progress well with his operational training.
March was a much more interesting month, with operational flights and a detachment with 8 Squadron to Masirah. A target detection exercise was also carried out under Flt Lt Pyrah’s supervision in which a camouflaged Whirlwind helicopter was placed in various positions in the Lower Radfan area for the FR.10 pilots to spot it while flying at 200 ft and 420 Kts. One civilian (Mr Spears) and RAF officer (Sqn Ldr Harrison) from the MoD were flown out from the UK for the trial. Of the seventeen operations carried out by the FR.10s, three were flown by 43 Squadron pilots due to a shortage of Mark 9 aircraft, caused by the 8 Squadron detachment. Even though he was still undergoing training, Flt Lt Grimshaw was pressed into flying two Beihan border patrols and two further sorties were flown on a new daily commitment to search for shipping on the coastline from east of Perim Island to Mukha.
A change of personnel occurred in April with the arrival of Flt Lts Neal and Johns from the UK and the departure of Flt Lt Sheppard to the CFS at Little Rissington. During the month, a liaison visit was made to the Royal Enniskillin Dragoon Guards during which the pilots drove Ferret cars and Centurion tanks and fired on the miniature Centurion range. As Flt Lt Grimshaw neared operational status, the two new pilots started the long journey to becoming ‘op’.
Only five operations took place in May, a month described as a very routine, the most notable event occurring on the 29th with the destruction through sabotage of one of the RAF Dakotas on the ground. Closer attention to pre-flight inspections on the Flight became the norm thereafter. The political situation in the Federation being good meant that fewer recce flights were called for, due in part to the lack of understanding as to how 1417 Flight could support ground operations by the commanders, but internal security in the State remained poor.
Nine operations were flown in June, an interesting month with two pilots, Flt Lts Chambers and Johns, dispatched on a two-week detachment to Masirah as part of a 43 Squadron detachment. During this period, the two pilots photographed nine airfields and thirty strike targets and allowed them to become more familiar with a new area and accustomed to operating over extreme ranges with a minimum of aids and rather poor maps. Back down in Aden, two of the operational sorties were flown in the Beihan area as a result of attacks in the area by Migs crossing the border from the Yemen. The situation in the area remained critical.
On 3 July, Strike Wing held an open day for Strike Wing families and invited guests. The Flight displayed photographs to illustrate the work it was doing and, to demonstrate the high speed processing and quality of work, a line overlap of Khormaksar airfield was taken and displayed thirty minutes later. On the 14th, the Flight participated in a formation flypast to greet the Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Mountbatten, and when The Inspector, AM Sir Augustus Walker visited the Wing, 1417 Flight recorded his arrival on film. He was presented with his photograph eleven minutes later, a new record for the Flight.
In between these social activities, nine operational sorties were flown, two on convoy air cover, two in the Beihan border area looking for a large party of dissidents, to up the Wadi Yahar in search of a dissident hideout and three sorties on Navy co-op exercises.
Terrorist activity in the Aden State continued through August, curbing several social activities of the Flight’s personnel, although improvements in their ten-pin bowling skills brought just reward, Strike Wing champions. Flt Lts Johns and Grimshaw flew two aircraft back to the UK for refurbishment, FR.10, XF441 being one of them. Refurbished FR.10, XE614 was flown back as its replacement, maintaining the Flight’s Mark 10 strength at five aircraft; XE589, XE599, XE614, XF436 and XF460. Of the eighteen operational sorties flown, eleven were in the Western Protectorate and seven on Operation Thesiger in the Eastern area, two of these being flown out of Salalah, two aircraft, XE614 and XF436, and three pilots, Flt Lts Chambers, Neal and Cole, having been detached to Salalah on the 27th on the orders of HQMEC.
September offered more than the usual quota of interesting and exciting events with the greatest number of operational sorties flown since those in the Radfan campaign. As a result of increased violence in which the British speaker of the Legislative Council was murdered, and the open connivance by the Aden Government to the policy of terrorism by the National Liberation Front, the Aden Constitution was suspended. This event not only put Aden in the world headlines but resulted in severe curfews while the security forces awaited a reaction. The month also saw a change in command as Flt Lt Roger Pyrah returned tour-ex to the UK and a posting to CFS at Little Rissington. Flt Lt Chambers assumed command of the Flight. Roger would long be remembered for the interesting training programme he pursued with vigour and Ralph for making his mark with construction of an operations desk of titanic proportions.
When a party of MPs visited the Wing on 9 September, their arrival was captured on film by Flt Lt Cole. Nine minutes and 35 seconds later a print was handed to the visitors - another new record that could have been bettered if awkward nosecone had not given trouble to the line photographers. A big demand on the Flight’s services saw no fewer than 43 operational sorties being flown this month, 27 of them on Operation Thesiger, an operation deemed so ‘hush-hush’ at the time that the details were not permitted to be entered in the ORB, itself a document marked ‘Secret’. Three aircraft, XE589, XF436 and XF460, were flown up to Salalah by Flt Lts Chambers, Johns and Simpson for the operation. On the Western front, operations were concentrated mainly on recce flights seeking out buildings housing active sympathisers or their equipment. A big issue with this was that because of difficulties Arab informers had of orientating and recognising aerial photographs, the time lag between the initial reconnaissance and the order into action was sometimes distressingly long. Towards the end of the month, 1417 Flight was once again tasked with Operation Ranji, flying three sorties to record and investigate suspicious activity along the coast and shipping activity within the three mile limit.
The tempo continued on a rising trend through October when the operational sortie tally reached exactly half the 100-hour target, seventeen on Operation Ranji and the remainder on dissident activities in the Wadi Bana and Wadi Raffa areas, despite the many comings and goings by Flight members. The combined effect of these movements resulted in the Flight being manned by only two pilots for much of the month, a heavy task considering the number of extra duties and operational sorties flown. In reorganising the Flight the OC, Flt Lt Chambers, had taken the brush and wielded it to devastating but necessary effect.
The month saw two detachments by the Wing to Masirah, each accompanied by one FR.10 and one 1417 Flight pilot. The reason for the Masirah detachments was to allow better dispersal of Hunter on the Wing ASP at Khormaksar, which could only hold twenty aircraft out a total of 32 (208 Squadron’s thirteen Hunters being permanently based at Muharraq), it was understood that the Masirah detachments might become a regular occurrence should the Aden situation stay as it was or deteriorate even further. Fortunately, any lack of training for the month was more than compensated for by the valuable experience gained from the various commitments. Nonetheless, recently arrived pilot, Flt Lt Ken Simpson, completed the third phase (photography) of his training and had started on the fourth (classical FR).
It was not until 22 November that all six pilots were gathered again at Khormaksar. Aden itself remained relatively quite and although scattered incidents occurred, they were not on the same scale as a few months before. The regained stability on the Flight also reflected in a month’s flying achievement that showed a more normal balance between operational and training flying. The opportunity was taken to present a series of lectures to local military units to explain the meaning and capabilities of Fighter Reconnaissance. The first lecture was given by Flt Lt Cole accompanied by Sqn Ldr Roy Bowie ((Wing Training Officer) and was deemed a success and a practical flying demonstration the next day converted any doubters. Flt Lt Cole also delivered a lecture to Officers, WOs and SNCOs of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, assisted by Flt Lts Chambers and Neal. This lecture was given in the open and allowed Flt Lt Grimshaw to take a low level photograph of the assembly; a print was then dropped from the same aircraft some twenty one minutes later after rapid processing at Khormaksar.
Of the nineteen operational sorties flown in November, fourteen were Operation Ranji and five were mixed, the most being a search for a missing 105 mm gun west of Beihan. It was not found! Post strike photographs were also taken after 37 Squadron Shackletons bombed two positions in the Wadi Bana and the final sortie of the month consisted of taking photographs of the Sheikh Othman area prior to an IS cordon and search. In the meantime, Flt Lt Simpson had made swift progress through his training and was declared operational on 12 November. The operational efficiency of the Flight was scrutinised twice, once by a team from DD Ops (MoD) and on the second occasion by a team from Chivenor. Flt Lt Johnny Morris (late of 1417 Flt) was a member of the latter and flew on two simulated operational sorties to refresh on Hunter flying in Aden before returning to FR tutorial duties at Chivenor.
The high percentage of operational flying in December stimulated the pilots’ zest and interest but off duty relaxation over the festive period was limited by the curfew regulations and specific instructions to be on guard. The security warning was not proven false as there fourteen incidents occurred over the stand down period. On a broader front, the Flight’s stability with six operational pilots was apparent in the ease in which operational tasks were undertaken. The series of lectures was extended following an invitation from No. 24 Brigade for Flt Lt Cole to give a presentation at Little Aden. This too was given in the open air and the opportunity taken for Flt Lt Grimshaw to take low-level photographs and drop them twenty or so minutes later.
Ten of the 25 operational sorties flown were on Operation Ranji. As a result of discussions with Naval Staff Intelligence, the scope of these operations was extended so that coastal searches were carried out as far as Bas Fartak. Within the territory, the Flight flew nine sorties over a wide area of the Yaffa region in search of a house known to be a dissident arms dump. The house was eventually identified from photographs taken by Flt Lt Chambers who later marked the target for a rocket strike by 8 Squadron FGA.9s. One of the final tasks of the year allocated to the Flight, flown by Flt Lt Johns (XE599), was to determine whether the main gate of Al Qarah (the holy city of the Yaffa territory) had been removed by high explosives. This proved to be so, the engineer’s identity remaining unknown. Although little training was carried out, all pilots were able to devote a higher than average amount of time on air-to-ground firing, the 51% score reflecting the value of this greater concentration.
Before closing this year it should be mentioned that the OC 1417 Flight took charge of the Strike Wing Photographic Section on 16 December, the SWPS strength being one SNCO, three Corporals and nine airmen.