Aden in the new year was a place of mixed blessing. On the one hand the delightful climate and good aircraft serviceability kept the Flight’s moral high; on the other, the tense security situation remained unpleasant. Several incidents involving the death of British personnel and a child of five served as a pointed reminder for the need for alertness and vigilance.
To return to more pleasant things, the unit’s flying target was achieved with ease and in fact was exceeded when several operational tasks were undertaken towards the end of the month. With a unit strength of seven pilots, the four available for the greater part of the month enjoyed a considerable quota of flying.
A total of 29 hrs 40 mins was flown on operational sorties by the Flight, falling into three categories: first, Sqn Ldr Barraclough (XF460) and Flt Lts Whitman (XF436) and Grimshaw (XE614) undertook searches in the Shabwash area for new desert tracks. The latter pair also flew in the area to settle an inter-tribal dispute on the positioning of a boundary between their respective tribal areas. Second, two sorties were flown by Flt Lt Whitman (XE599) and Flt Lt Johns (XF460) on photo-recce prior to operations by the SAS. The areas photographed were to the west and north-west of Habilayn and the stereo pair photographs included with the prints proved invaluable in the planning of the SAS operation (note: a stereo pair is a pair of photos taken a short time (micro-seconds) apart. When looked at through a frame with two lenses each eye sees a slightly different image - this causes the image to appear in 3D. For a PI (Photographic Interpreter) this can be useful as it causes objects such as camouflaged tanks, to ‘spring’ into view). Third, Flt Lts Neal (XF460) and Simpson (XE614) engaged themselves in the Wadi Bana area, their tasks including one post-strike recce and five photographic sorties. The remaining two operational sorties were flown by Flt Lt Whitman (XE599), on a photographic and visual recce sortie in the Hilyan area, and Flt Lt Neal (XE599) on a photographic sortie for the 1st Irish Guards 5nm north-north-west of Habilayn.
Several sorties were lost during the second week of February when a general strike was called by the banned National Liberation Front. Because of fuel supply difficulties, flying was limited to operational tasks but these were not forthcoming. The strike also brought a spate of Internal Security (IS) incidents that caused the imposition of general curfews and the restriction of movements of families from protected areas. This was an unpleasant time but the security forces remained in control of the situation throughout the emergency.
When the curfew ended, all seemed set fair for a successful month. However, on 13 February, Flt Lt Whitman was tasked to photograph an area around Al Ghurayq, a small town on the Yemen border, 50 nm north-west of Aden, and while still operating in the area, he noticed a considerable stream of fuel venting from the top of the starboard wing near the intake. After landing safely, investigation confirmed the pilot’s belief that the aircraft (XE614) had been hit by small arms fire. Enquiries by intelligence sources discovered the culprit to be a Sergeant stationed in the Yemeni Customs Post close to Al Ghurayq. The Hunter was grounded to await by the manufacturer.
Flt Lt Simpson departed for the UK in an FR.10 on 17 February and on arrival in the UK was to collect a replacement aircraft. His progress on the northern ferry route, however, was curtailed at Teheran where he remained for a week while attempts were made to cure fuel leaks.
Only thirteen hours were flown operationally this month, Flt Lts Johns (XF460), Grimshaw and Farquhar-Smith (XF460) flying a sortie each to take IS photographs in West Lahej state and the lower Radfan area. Flt Lts Grimshaw (XE614) and Farquhar-Smith (XE614) also flew three sorties to photograph a wadi junction in the Yahar and Flt Lt Neal (XE599) undertook a post-strike mission in the Wadi Staym and Bana junction areas with Flt Lt Johns in another FR.10 (XF460) as escort. Flt Lt Grimshaw (XE614) was tasked with flying with flying a sortie to the Habban area by the political authorities to confirm the positioning of small villages in the vicinity of the town, leaving the final sortie of the month to Flt Lt Johns (XF460) who took photographs of the Wadi Rabwa, north-east of Habilayn, as it had become a centre of dissident activity.
On the face of it, 90 hours FR.10 flying for March (which included the Easter grant) was not a bad effort. Unfortunately this is a distorted picture as the total includes over twenty hours by Flt Lt Simpson on a protracted ferry flight to the UK. For the first five days of the month, no aircraft were available due to unserviceabilities. When two FR.10s did become serviceable, every effort was made to keep them flying. For the final week of the month, flying was limited to one FR.10 sortie per day as the Station strove to increase its fuel reserves by 280,000 gallons to meet the threat of further fuel shortages due to civil disturbances. At the time this was written, Aden was in the grip of a General Strike and the future was looking bleak.
Flt Lt Simpson’s efforts to complete his FR.10 ferry caused much interest and comment on the Flight. He eventually reached Muharraq on the return journey on 16 March where he was met by Flt Lt Grimshaw who flew the aircraft (XF429) on to Khormaksar. Flt Lt Simpson then returned to the UK to lead a ferry of FGA.9s and eventually completed his task on the 27th. In all he was away for 5½ weeks. However, the ‘new’ FR.10 had hardly entered service when it collided with a sparrow-sized bird resulting in provisional Cat 2 damage.
With tight restrictions in place, only five operational sorties were flown in March, three of them by Flt Lts Grimshaw (XE599), Johns (XF460) and Whitman (XF460) in the Radfan area photographing different districts to assist the Army in operational planning. The photographs taken by Flt Lt Johns were later dropped by Flt Lt Whitman while on another mission. Early in the month, reports had been received that Hilyan, a fortified hill village friendly to the authorities in Upper Yaffa, had been attacked and destroyed. Flt Lt Farquhar-Smith (XE599) was tasked to photograph the village and the results showed extensive damage, the village appearing to be uninhabited. The attackers remained unidentified.
Sqn Ldr Barraclough managed to complete the Claimed phase of his training and moved on to the Aden FR phase.
April proved to be a month which, like the curate’s egg, was only good in parts. Aden was not a particularly place to be for the first twelve days of the month, the worst deluge in living memory on April Fool’s Day coinciding with the General Strike called by local nationalist factions to demonstrate solidarity with to the visiting United Nations mission to South Arabia. During the twelve-day strike, the majority of the 376 security incidents for April occurred. The cloudburst caused extensive flooding at Khormaksar and an almost total breakdown in electrical services. The strike severely delayed the restitution of those services and caused the fuel rationing, introduced in March, to continue until the 13th. With only 5,000 lb of fuel available per day, the Flight was limited to one training sortie only. When the fuel restrictions were lifted, the position improved, good humour returned and Sqn Ldr Barraclough completed his training.
One aircraft that has sustained damage through hostile action in February remained unserviceable followed by another with bird-strike damage in the fourth week of April. This left two aircraft and the backlog of flying which had accrued by the 13th could not be made up and the Flight finished the month twenty hours short of the 90 hour target. Nonetheless, twelve operational sorties were flown, Flt Lt Farquhar-Smith taking photographs of Sheikh Othman for a planned cordon and search by the Army being one of them. Sqn Ldr Barraclough and Flt Lts Whitman and Simpson flew missions in the Habilayn/Radfan area to provide photographic cover of areas in which the 1st Battalion Irish Guards were preparing ambush patrols. Later in the month, Flt Lt Simpson located and photographed a Russian cargo vessel for Naval Intelligence.
The demise of Hilyan was confirmed as complete, all buildings in the hilltop village having been raised to the ground. This is an interesting microcosm of the inter-tribal feuding that occurred all over this theatre, entirely divorced from political or international relationships.
The merry month of May produced a veritable kaleidoscope of activities for 1417 Flight, in fact it seemed as if its role as FR had been replaced by that of PR. This was corroborated by the fact that the number of photographic prints from film taken of the many flypasts that took place during the month far outnumbered those of operational or training targets. On 1 May, Flt Lt Simpson took photographs of an 8 Squadron diamond-nine formation to mark the departure of the GOC, Middle East Command and he followed this up on the 12th with superb quality photographs of a combined RAF/RN formation flypast comprising sixteen Hunters and eight Sea Vixens and six Buccaneers from HMS Hermes. Four days later it was Flt Lt Whitman’s turn when he took photographs of a Strike Wing Hunter diamond-sixteen formation to mark the departure of HE, Sir Richard Turnbull, the retiring High Commissioner for Aden. Finally, and certainly not least, on the 17th Flt Lt Whitman was tasked with photographing a huge balbo of 55 RAF and RN aircraft, led by Sea Vixens and Buccaneers from HM aircraft carriers Victorious and Hermes, with the combined Hunter force of Khormaksar and Muharraq bringing up the rear.
Flt Lt Farquhar-Smith drew the short straw when Lord Shackleton paid a visit to Khormaksar, being selected to chauffeur the Station’s guest around the WAP in a Hunter T.7. Shortly after getting airborne, the aircraft showed a marked indifference to the exalted standing of its passenger and developed a pressurisation fault, resulting in a premature arrival back at base. The second attempt, however, was most successful and Lord Shackleton was extremely pleased to see a large part of the Federation first hand.
May also saw the comings and goings of several of the Flight’s pilots; Sqn Ldr Barraclough spending two weeks on a BoI in Muharraq and Flt Lts Grimshaw and Neal returning to the UK on becoming tour-ex. Flt Lt Simpson also returned to the UK but only for a short period to lead another Hunter ferry trip.
Despite the time spent on the ‘extra-curricular activities’, 1417 Flight managed to fly twelve operational sorties in June, the majority of them being in the Habilayn area. Flt Lts Simpson and Whitman once again provided reconnaissance for the 1st Irish Guards who received their photographs via parachute drop at Habilayn. Photographic cover of the Yaffa and Dhala areas required by the AFME Planning Staff for night rocketing and air-to-ground trials was obtained by Flt Lt Whitman. Later in the month, missions in support of the SAS were flown by Sqn Ldr Barraclough and Flt Lt Whitman and 45 Royal Marine Commando, also operating in the Habilayn area, were supplied with prints by Flt Lt Farquhar-Smith. Sqn Ldr Barraclough was also busy taking photographs of the Wadis Lusm and Danis, dropping the prints later at Habilayn. When Strike Wing FGA.9s on Operation Knit used rockets in attack in the Wadi Bana, Flt Lt Farquhar-Smith was tasked with taking action and post-strike photographs. The last operation of the month was flown by 8 Squadron pilot, Flt Lt Webb, who took some ‘last flight’ film of Wadi Taym for the SAS. On the training front, Flt Lt Bagshaw was able to complete his introduction to low-level navigation in Aden and had moved on to the initial photographic phase.
When fuel restrictions were partially lifted on 3 July, Strike Wing was allocated 4,000 gallons per day, of which 1417 Flight’s share was 800 gallons. Not very much considering that a fully-fuelled Hunter needed 1,050 gallons but it did allow the Flight to fly two medium range sorties per day. By the 13th all fuel restrictions were lifted allowing the Wing to return to normal flying duties. As no operational tasks were called for no ‘ops’ were flown by the Flight in July, all flying being devoted to pre- and post-operational training. However, the one-hour standby commitment remained in force, requiring two pilots and two FR.10s to be available at one-hours notice from 05:30 to 17:30 each day. To spread the load, the day was spilt into two shifts, one from 05:30 to 13:00 and the second from 13:00 to 17:30.
Towards the end of the month, information was received regarding the disbandment of 1417 Flight. Early in September it would be absorbed by 8 Squadron, becoming ‘B’ Flight but retraining the same personnel and Hunter FR.10 aircraft. Coincident with the merger, 8 Squadron would move up to join 208 Squadron at Muharraq. Towards the end of July, the photographic processing caravans were removed from their site in the Strike Wing complex to be readied for shipment to Muharraq, the AFME Processing Centre assuming responsibility for processing all 1417 Flight’s F.95 film, while the Strike Wing Processing Centre retained the task of processing the GGSR and G.90 cine film.
Perhaps the most significant photographic event of the month was the installation of automatic iris aperture controls on the F.95 cameras of Hunter FR.10, XF460. The almost infinitely-variable, automatically controlled lens aperture introduced by this modification enabled 1417 Flight to provide its customers with top-quality photographs whatever the prevailing day-time light conditions.
In contrast to July, August was a busy month for 1417 Flight with sixteen operational sorties being flown in as many days. Extensive training was also carried out although pre-operational training ceased on the 7th when Flt Lt Bagshaw was declared operational. Flt Lt Farquhar-Smith added another high profile notch to his log book when he flew HE, The High Commissioner, Sir Humphrey Trevelyan in a Hunter T.7 on a tour of the South Arabian Federation. Other extra-mural flying included photo-coverage of 8 Squadron’s farewell flypast on the occasion of their departure from Khormaksar to Muharraq via an APC at Masirah by Flt Lt Simpson. FR.10, XE614, was flown by Flt Lt Bagshaw to Muharraq for a minor service prior to the arrival of ‘B’ Flight, 8 Squadron.
Much of the time and energies of the Flight were taken absorbed in the preparation of the Aden Tactics Convention held at Khormaksar on the 23rd, during which, Sqn Ldr Barraclough contributed a presentation on the aspects of Fighter Reconnaissance peculiar to operations in the South Arabian Federation. Following the convention, much effort was devoted to packing items of Flight equipment for shipment to Muharraq. This was completed by the end of the month when building 726 of the Strike Wing complex, home to 1417 Flight for the previous 4½ years, was vacated, the Flight taking up temporary residence in the former Strike Wing operations room.
Also towards the end of the month, it was learned that Flt Lts Whitman and Bagshaw would be required to remain at Khormaksar for an indefinite period after the disbandment of 1417 Flight, on detachment from 8 Squadron, and Sqn Ldr Barraclough would take over the duties of Deputy Officer Commanding Flying Wing.
With the resumption of operational flying by 1417 Flight, the first such sortie was undertaken by Flt Lt Bagshaw (XF429) on the 12th, when he was tasked to fly a visual and photographic recce of a suspected dissident encampment near Wadi Sulub, and on the 15th, Flt Lt Simpson (XF460) flew a flagwave over the village of Khalla, near Dhala. Two days later, Flt Lt Whitman (XF429) was detailed as airborne R/T relay for a 43 Squadron top cover operation in support of the South Arabian Army near Al Kirsh. During the early hours of 20 August, Strike Wing aircraft flew a series of patrols over known dissident routes from the Yemen. Of these, four operational sorties were flown by 1417 Flight; Flt Lts Simpson and Bagshaw as a pair in a first light reconnaissance of the Wadis Bana and Yahar and Flt Lts Bagshaw and Whitman on a visual and photographic recce of suspected dissident encampments in the Wadi Milh area.
On 23rd, Flt Lt Whitman (XF460), escorted by Flt Lt Malin of 43 Squadron (XF429), flew a border recce between Tawr Al Bahar and Awabil and on the following day, Flt Lt Bagshaw (XF460) was escorted by 43 Squadron’s Flt Lt Willman (XF429) when he obtained visual and photographic confirmation that the NLF had taken over the fort at Shurjan, near the Yemeni border. As a result, 43 Squadron were tasked to attack the fort while Sqn Ldr Barraclough (XF460) and Flt Lt Simpson (XF429) provided post-strike visual and photographic evidence. Increased NLF activity in the Shuqra area was confirmed by Flt Lt Simpson (XF460) on the 27th and Sqn Ldr Barraclough (XF460) on the 28th.
In the last week of its existence, 1417 Flight continued to utilise its serviceable aircraft intensively in both the operational and training roles. An average of two operational sorties per day were flown while flying training in the FR.10 and T.7 were of similar intensity. Several special photographic sorties, not officially tasked as operational, were carried out such as that by Flt Lt Whitman on 1 September when he completed the photo-cover of towns and villages within a 15 nm radius of Khormaksar. On 5 September, Flt Lt Simpson took air-to-air photographs of a 37 Squadron Shackleton MR.2 as it flew past during the Squadron’s disbandment parade and on the 7th, as part of a training exercise, Flt Lts Whitman and Bagshaw located and photographed training targets in Area West for 43 Squadron.
Between the 4th and 7th, a number of sorties were mounted to try and locate an Army Air Corps Scout helicopter which went missing on a flight from Ataq to Mayfa’ah. Flt Lt Simpson (XE599) took off on the morning of the 4th to provide top cover for a search and rescue mission along the Scout’s track, but was recalled when it was learned that the helicopter had reached Mayfa’ah but had been brought down by hostile action and its crew killed. Members of the Flight flew four sorties in an attempt to find traces of the Scout; Flt Lts Whitman (XF460) and Simpson (XE599) as a pair later on the 4th, Flt Lt Whitman (XF460) together with an FGA.9 of 43 Squadron as top cover on the 5th and Sqn Ldr Barraclough (XF429), again with a 43 Squadron FGA.9 as top cover, on 7 September. This was the last sortie flown by a 1417 Flight Hunter FR.10. Flt Lt Whitman’s sortie had revealed a dark patch in a wadi to the east of the town which intelligences sources suggested could have been the burnt-out wreckage of the Scout. Sqn Ldr Barraclough’s low-level sortie produced a close-up view of the patch which proved to be a burnt area of about twelve feet in diameter. Later reports indicated that this was almost certainly the site where the helicopter was set on fire and its AAC occupants killed.
In spite of its imminent demise, the Flight carried out a considerable amount of training in the T.7s. Three of these were by Flt Lts Farquhar-Smith and Bagshaw to enable Flt Lt Bagshaw to become competent in instructing three members of the newly formed South Arabian Air Force (SAAF) up to solo status on the Hunter. At that time it was the intention that a number of Hunters would be handed over to the SAAF when the British finally pulled out.
To mark the disbandment of 1417 Flight, two parties were held. The first was held for airmen on the 4th in the RAF Police Club, ‘The Hair of the Dog’, and it was no surprise that, in view of the venue and the quantity of beer consumed, everyone was on their best behaviour. This was followed on the 6th by a luncheon for the Officer Commanding and pilots of the Flight, together with several distinguished RAF officers still serving in Aden. Once it had been ascertained that there were no operational commitments for the afternoon, a state of poor photographic light was declared to enable all members of the Flight to continue disbandment festivities together.
The day before disbandment, a signal was received from SASO on behalf of the AOC who was away in the UK. It read; “Thank you on behalf of the AOC for the excellent work done by your pilots and groundcrews during your time in AFME. Your skill and knowledge remain in theatre - good luck for the future.” The same day, Flt Lts Simpson (XE599) and Farquhar-Smith (FGA.9) departed for Muharraq to join 8 squadron, Flt Lts Whitman and Bagshaw remaining at Khormaksar with two FR.10s, XF429 and XF460, as the 8 Squadron (FR) detachment, along with Sqn Ldr Barraclough as Deputy Commanding Officer Flying Wing.