208 Squadron operations - 1961

To the Persian Gulf

The beginning of the year was a busy one for the Squadron as preparations got underway for an imminent detachment to the Persian Gulf and an Armament Practice Camp (APC) in Cyprus in May. For the first ten days, ranging, tracking and cine quarters exercises were concentrated upon plus night flying on the 3 January and two dusk sorties on the 9th. Over the weekend of the 7th and 8th, the Squadron took part in Operation ‘Rhino’, comprising close support for 24 Infantry Brigade, in the Archer’s Post area in the Northern Frontier district of Kenya.

On the following Monday and Tuesday, six aircraft were fitted with long-range 230-gallon drop tanks in preparation for the Persian Gulf detachment, the fuel flow checks being carried out on low-level recces to places of interest in the local area. At 06:30 on the 11th, four Hunters, flown by Flt Lts MacDermid, McLeland and Bell and Fg Off French, took off for Bahrain, staging through Khormaksar and Sharjah en-route. The detachment was planned to be based at Sharjah but was changed to Bahrain owing to the state of the runway at the former. Thirty-one members of the groundcrew and three pilots were ferried up to Bahrain in a 30 Squadron Beverley, night-stopping at Khormaksar on the way. They then staged through Salalah and Sharjah before arriving in Bahrain at 19:30. At Sharjah the Beverley was met by the four Hunter pilots and was loaded with Hunter spares for use at Bahrain, necessitated by the change of location for the detachment. The Beverley was then held back to allow the Squadron groundcrew to start the Hunters but when Fg Off French’s aircraft failed to start, both he and Flt Lt McLeland night-stopped while Flt Lts Bell and MacDermid flew on the Bahrain. This was the first time the Squadron had moved aircraft from Nairobi to Bahrain in one day. Back at Embakasi, the two as spare aircraft were then reconfigured for medium range flying and for the remainder of the month, the Squadron found itself in the gratifying position of having more serviceable aircraft than pilots to fly them.

As many exercises were being flown during the detachment two more Hunters were flown up from Nairobi on the 31st with Sqn Ldr Ramirez and Fg Off Telford at the controls, the two aircraft departing at 07:00 and staging through Khormaksar en-route for Sharjah. Two of the original four aircraft received ricochet damage while attacking the Jabal Dana range, one having a piece of shrapnel lodge in its leading edge of the port intake and the other a damaged aileron.

Back at Nairobi, much of the early part of February was taken up with low-level navigation exercises and high level battle sorties, interspersed with formation aerobatics pending a visit to RAF Eastleigh by the Governor of Kenya, Sir Patrick Renison KCMG on the 16th. Led by Sqn Ldr R. Ramirez, Flt Lt T. Cohu replaced Flt Lt B. Grieve at number two, with Flt Lts P. Biddiscombe and P. McLeland occupying the numbers three and four positions respectively, their display comprised close formation flying by a section of three aircraft and solo aerobatics by Pete McLeland. The T.7 and an FGA.9 along with three pilots, were on the static display line.

Aircraft unserviceability became an issue during March when, for several days, only three aircraft were available, the other being grounded due to lack of tyres. No spare Hunter tyres were available in the whole Command, not just Kenya! One sortie that was able to be flown was an Army-cooperation demonstration in Forward Air Controlling for the Royal Enniskillen Fusiliers with Flt Lt Derek Bell acting as the FAC.

The most significant event for the Squadron was the arrival of its new Officer Commanding, Sqn Ldr Mike Goodfellow on 14 March, Sqn Ldr Ramirez relinquishing command on the 23rd.

During the first week of April, ‘Operational Turnrounds’ on the Fighter Command pattern were attempted, the first one taking one hour five minutes from touch down to take off. The last one was performed as a demonstration for Army officers and took a mere fifteen minutes.

In preparation for an impending APC in Cyprus and an exercise in Libya, six aircraft were equipped with long range tanks (2 x 100 and 2 x 230) and flown on a series of long range navigation exercises and fuel flow checks during the first week of May. Radar ranging snags were ironed out and harmonization of the aircraft completed. Because of doubts about the reliability of the Climb figures given in Pilots Notes and the fact that Nairobi is 5,000 ft asl, two sorties were carried out to ascertain accurate figures and these were used on the route to Cyprus. The contingent comprised thirteen officers and 57 NCOs and airmen. The outbound ferry flight was via Khormaksar, Sharjah and Teheran to Cyprus and the return flight via El Adem and Khartoum with en-route support provided by a Beverley of 30 Squadron, Shackleton of 37 Squadron and Hastings of 70 Squadron.

On 7 May, the six Hunters, flown by Sqn Ldr Goodfellow, Flt Lts Marshall, MacDermid and Sawyer, and Fg Offs Doidge and Hennessy, were intended to fly as a ‘fluid six’ but two aircraft suffered radio failures on start up and were delayed. Thus three aircraft led by Flt Lt MacDermid, took off at 07:30 and headed for Khormaksar. Immediately after take off, Fg Off Hennessy reported that his nosewheel had not retracted, but as a visual inspection by the other two revealed no problem, the three aircraft continued to Khormaksar and landed without further incident. Meanwhile the remaining three, led by Sqn Ldr Ramirez, were able to depart at 07:45 and reached Khormaksar ten minutes behind the leading three, at 10:00. There the pilots were welcomed by the AOC, AVM Sir D. Lee, CB, CBE, and the Station Commander, and were well looked after by 8 Squadron personnel. At 12:10, all six Hunters took off on a heading for Sharjah where they landed 2¾ hours later and were joined by the route support party shortly after for an overnight stop.

The next day the aircraft took off in pairs at two-minute intervals to allow the sand on the strip to settle. On joining up overhead, they set course for Teheran at 09:25. Some 300 miles south of their destination, Fg Off Hennessy’s aircraft suffered a total hydraulic failure and he had to complete the flight in manual. Dropping his outboard tanks first, he landed at Teheran without incident, stop cocking before crossing the threshold and streaming the chute on touch down. The aircraft were met by BOAC engineers who organised the turnrounds which took three hours to complete. The five serviceable aircraft then took off for Mehrabad, leaving the unserviceable aircraft behind with Fg Off Hennessy. The next stage of the flight was made over total cloud cover and with no radio aids being be picked up, navigation was made by dead-reckoning. To avoid flying over UAR and Iraqi territory, the formation flew to Askaray in Turkey then turned south for Nicosia, arriving there a little over 2½ hours later.

The APC completed. the six Hunters left Nicosia at 07:50, bound for RAF El Adem on the first leg of the ferry flight back to Kenya. After being turned round there, the intentions was to fly on to Khartoum but after repeated attempts, XE643 failed to start. It was decided to leave a second aircraft at El Adem to accompany XE643 home once the problem had been rectified, leaving the remaining four to depart for Khartoum. Shortly after taking off, the pilot of XG134 indicated radio failure and returned to El Adem. The Beverley and Hastings carrying squadron personnel departed Nicosia soon after the Hunters’ departure and night-stopped at Khartoum. The morale of those on the Hastings was about to be put to the test as on arriving in Khartoum, the captain reported an engine problem and the likelihood of a long stay due to the scarcity of scheduled RAF transport aircraft staging through. The three Hunters, however, were able to continue their journey on the Nairobi. Meanwhile, the three Hunters stuck at El Adem made another attempt to leave but XE643 failed to start again. It was decided to leave it there for an engine change and allow the other two to depart for Nairobi which they did. The passengers on the Hastings were not so lucky as they had to make their way back to Kenya via El Adem and Khormaksar, the last of them finally arriving twelve days after leaving Nicosia.

Rude awakening

Having just about settled back into its operational routine, preparations began for a detachment to Khormaksar, due to commence on 4 July. Intensive ground attack training, which began on 10 June as part of the preparations, was brought to an end on the 23rd with a nine-ship formation flypast. The aircraft were then grounded for the remainder of the month to give the groundcrew sufficient time to prepare them for the detachment.

On the morning of 26 June, however, General Kassim of Iraq laid claim to Kuwait and, despite the considerable speculation this announcement aroused, the Squadron was instructed to carry on with its preparations for the detachment to Aden. Nevertheless, after consultations with his flight commanders, the Officer Commanding, Sqn Ldr Michael Goodfellow, decided to prepare for a possible move to Kuwait. Rocket rails and 230-gallon long range drop tanks were fitted and all aircraft harmonised for operations, the airmen working from dawn till dusk for three days from the 26th. The VHF radios were re-crystallised to the new Middle East Command specification and aircrew, when not involved in air tests, undertook lecture programmes covering Middle East intelligence reports on the Kuwait local area, long range navigation techniques, and aircraft and tank recognition. While the pilots prepared their route maps, the groundcrews were busy preparing tools and spares packs.

Destination Kuwait

At 14:00 on 29 June, 208 Squadron was put on 24-hour readiness - the preparations had not been in vain! At 17:15 that afternoon, it received the order, ‘Make first destination - Khormaksar - daylight hours, 30 June 1961’. At that time, the Squadron’s status was as follows:

Seven aircraft combat ready with 2 x 100-gallon and 2 x 230-gallon drop tanks fitted.
Six rocket rails fitted to each aircraft and gunpacks armed with 4 x 135 rounds of ball ammunition (no HE was available in Kenya).
One aircraft (XE597) being prepared for air test; it flew on the morning of the 30th.
One aircraft (XE607) was due to be returned to Embakasi from Eastleigh.
Two aircraft (XE544 and XF420) were with ASF at Eastleigh on major and minor servicing respectively.
Having been left unserviceable with an engine change at El Adem on the Squadron’s return from Cyprus, XJ643 had been repaired and was awaiting an escort to fly out.

At 23:59 on the night of the 29th, a 30 Squadron Beverley departed Embakasi for Khormaksar, en-route for the Gulf. On board were five 208 Squadron Hunter pilots, twenty groundcrew and 5,000 lb of freight.

The following morning brought a 05:00 start and at 06:45 the first four Hunters taxied out from their Embakasi dispersal. Number four, however, had to return due to deflective flaps. The remaining three, flown by Sqn Ldr Goodfellow and Flt Lts Biddiscombe and McLeland, took off and headed for Aden. The second section of three aircraft should have included the defective number four from the first section, the malfunction having been repaired, but it failed to start leaving three to make the trip to Khormaksar. These were flown by Flt Lts Renshaw and Tate and Fg Off MacNab. Following a successful air test, XE597 and the defective number four were able to depart Embakasi of Khormaksar at 13:00 with Flt Lts Sawyer and Marshall at the controls.

On arrival at Khormaksar, the pilots were briefed that they were to prepare to continue up to the Gulf on the following morning. Sqn Ldr Goodfellow, however, requested permission to continue immediately and permission was granted at 12:00. The aircraft took off in two sections of three, staging through Sharjah en-route to Bahrain, while the two stragglers arrived at Khormaksar at 15:35 and remained there overnight. By early afternoon, the six 208 Squadron aircraft were on the pan at Bahrain where they were greeted by the OC TAC Wing, Wg Cdr Neville. He briefed the OC that the 230-gallon tanks should remain in situ overnight and announced that he would brief the pilots of both 8 and 208 Squadrons at 08:00 on the following morning. Meanwhile, the advanced party of 208 Squadron members was delayed at Salalah, the Beverley having developed engine trouble.

Into Kuwait

At 04:30 on 1 July, Wg Cdr Neville briefed the OC 208 Squadron to deputise for him at Bahrain while he moved forward to Kuwait with four Hunters of 208 Squadron and six Hunters of 8 Squadron, each armed with full gunpacks and HE/SAP 60 lb rockets. They departed Bahrain at 09:00 and arrived at Kuwait New at 09:50. The 208 Squadron aircraft were flown by Flt Lts Renshaw, Tate and Biddiscombe and Fg Off MacNab. As the ten Hunters and their crews settled into their new surroundings, the remaining force of Hunters at Bahrain, four from 8 Squadron and two from 208, carried out armed reconnaissance flights over Kuwait, landing back at Bahrain.

The first 208 Squadron groundcrew arrived in Bahrain at 16:30 on the 1st in a Beverley from Khormaksar. The airmen were stood-down until the following morning as they were fatigued after their journey from Eastleigh, which had taken 40 hours. The remainder of the groundcrew and pilots arrived on the 3rd, having been delayed by unserviceability of the Beverleys en-route.

Although the decision to move the Hunters to Kuwait New was taken early on the 1 July, the aircraft did not take off until 09:00 for the following reasons:

The decision to replace the 230-gallon drop tanks with 100-gallon tanks was not made until that morning.
The number of 8 Squadron airmen available was insufficient to cope with the aircraft of both squadrons.
The defuelling and refuelling of drop tanks was delayed because of bowser shortage and only one defuelling rig was available.
The Squadron gun-armament fuses were in possession of the ‘Advanced Party’ which was delayed at Sharjah with an unserviceable Beverley.

Although Kuwait New Airport was still under construction, a 2,500 yard tarmac runway was available and the taxiways, although incomplete, was usable. The apron itself was very soft and without grids and metal plates for the main wheels, the aircraft sank into the tarmac. The bad news was that there was no Air Traffic Control, no electrical power, water supply or oxygen. Refuelling supplies were soon made available by BP and the aircraft left fully armed and brought to 15-minutes readiness. As the visibility steadily dropped below 1,000 yards, no Hunter flying took place. Several transport aircraft made attempts to land but because of the poor visibility, some inadvertently landed at Kuwait Old Airport some seven miles to the south.

As there was no flying, the combined sections of 8 and 208 Squadrons, under the command of Wg Cdr Neville, set about organising office accommodation. A small building was obtained to house the aircrew of both squadrons, Ground Liaison Officers and their communications system, and an office was provided for the Tactical Air Commander while the space that remained was turned into a Tactical Operations room. This small building was one of the very few complete buildings. Blowing sand and midday temperatures of 120º F made conditions very uncomfortable.

Billeted accommodation for the Hunter pilots was provided in the shape of a Guest House in Ahmadi, owned by the Kuwait Oil Company, while the groundcrew had to make do with a partially constructed hangar.

On the 2nd, both squadrons operated armed recces from Bahrain along the Kuwait/Iraqi border and, although no Iraqi activity was seen, it gave the pilots the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the forward area. Later, a pair of 208 Squadron Hunters were scrambled to identify five ships seen off the coast of neutral territory south of Kuwait. These turned out to be Japanese tankers at anchor by the submarine oil terminal.

Later in the day, water coolers were installed and were in constant use, a large selection of vehicles was also acquired and beds and bedding borrowed from the oil company. Pilots rostered on early morning readiness states and sleeping at the airfield, found aircraft wings the coolest place. All ranks were issued with compo rations and they ate individually. A field kitchen was set up to cook the rations and reasonably good meals were provided.

Overnight the decision was taken to bring the remaining Hunters from Bahrain to Kuwait as soon as possible on the 3rd and the four 208 Squadron aircraft arrived during the morning. The remaining pilots and groundcrew were to travel on the first available transport aircraft but as the aircraft allocated was subject to various delays, it did not arrive until 02:00 on the 4th.

By dawn on the 4th, all Squadron personnel had arrived and eight Hunters were available. Both pilots and groundcrew adopted a shift system to cover the dawn till dusk operational task, the standby being shared between the two squadrons. Two pairs were placed on 15-minute readiness from dawn to dusk, two pairs carried out dawn recces, while a fifth pair flew a cooperation exercise with the carrier HMS Bulwark, also testing the VDF equipment just installed on the airfield.

During the period from 5 to 10 July, a steady routine evolved where one pair of Hunters was held at 15-minutes readiness and two pairs at 30-minutes, all configured with 2x100-gallon drop tanks, full gunpacks and six rockets. The weather was varied, visibility in particular being poor in the lifted sands of the seasonable north-westerly winds, dawn being the best time for good visibility. The inactivity was relieved somewhat by scrambled designed to exercise the pilots, groundcrews and communications system. On the 10th, the decision was made to withdraw 8 Squadron to Bahrain and its ten aircraft flew out later that afternoon. This gave 208 Squadron more room, which particularly applied to the groundcrew who were rather crowded in their accommodation hangar.

Three pairs of aircraft were brought to 15-minutes readiness at 07:15 on the 11th for an Army cooperation exercise. By 07:45 all pilots were at 2-minutes standby in their cockpits and at 08:00, two pairs scrambled. As both leaders failed to start, the number twos took off as singletons. Visibility in the exercise area was much worse than predicted and the first pilot, deciding not to make any ground attack dives, reported this back to ASOC. The second aircraft (XG134), however, made several attacks but unfortunately struck the ground, killing the pilot, Fg Off Hennessy.

Following the pull back of Iraqi troops, the political situation was relaxed and the Squadron states were relaxed from the 13th. Even though aircraft were stood down to 90-minutes readiness, exercises were frequently staged to ensure everything would work should the crisis take a turn for the worse. The normal routine now was for a pair to carry out the dawn recce while singletons, pairs and fours carried out training with the FACs. Normal flying was planned to cease at around 11:00 to avoid servicing in the hottest part of the day when temperatures reached 140º in the sun. At dusk, a pair would take off for a final recce along the border.

Aircraft movements during the month saw Flt Lt MacDermid arrived in XJ687 after its minor servicing, the pilot having flown unaccompanied on the Eastleigh - Khormaksar leg and then been retrained in Aden for a few days to help out the hard pressed 8 Squadron remnants quell increased dissident activity in the WAP. Heading in the opposite direction on the 17th, Flt Lt Pickering flew XE544 to Eastleigh for minor servicing, in the company of an 8 Squadron aircraft as far as Khormaksar. Finally, Flt Lt Grainger flew XE643 into Kuwait from El Adem on the 26th, all the way with an hydraulic failure and fuel leak.

To keep moral on a high, shopping trips were organised to Kuwait City and the Squadron played hockey and water polo against local teams, losing them all. Large numbers of Squadron personnel were entertained on numerous occasions by local families, a bath, a meal and an air conditioned room to sleep in much appreciated.

By early August, with the crisis over, the decision was taken to relieve 208 Squadron at Kuwait by moving it to Bahrain, and replacing it with 8 Squadron Hunters from Bahrain. 208 would be in striking distance should the need arise. The first four aircraft took off on the 8th of the month at 09:00, but before the second four were ready to leave, details of suspected troop movements over the Iraqi border were reported and all remaining Hunters in Kuwait were armed with RPs and brought to 15-minutes readiness. However, it being declared a false alarm, three more Hunters were dispatched to Bahrain, leaving a just pair and their pilots to support 8 Squadron in Kuwait.

After a period of relaxation, during which many pilots and airmen were able to return to Eastleigh for two-weeks leave, the opportunity was taken to catch up on a backlog of aircraft defects and servicing. The hard graft began again on 1 and 2 September when the Squadron carried out rocket and gun attacks on the Ras Sadr range, the aircraft taking off from Bahrain and landing at Sharjah. Having been re-armed, they then took off for further sorties on the range before returning to Bahrain.

On the morning of the 8th, six aircraft took off and headed for Kuwait where they were to relieve 8 Squadron, while the two remaining aircraft (XE607-F and XE643-M) were flown down to Khormaksar for servicing. As soon as the six Hunters were refuelled and re-armed, all but three of 8 Squadron’s FGA.9s (XE649-S, XE651-M, XE600-G, plus T.7 XL565-Y) departed for Bahrain. On the 14th, Wg Cdr Neville departed Kuwait and was replaced as OC Tactical Wing by Sqn Ldr Goodfellow and from the 22nd, the Squadron was tasked to overfly Ahmadi, Kuwait and various Army units in the desert to ‘show the flag’. Weather permitting, this was done twice a day, once at 07:00 and again at 16:00. A nine-ship formation was occasionally flown on these occasions, leaving just a pair on standby. Time was also found to form a new aerobatic team, practice displays taking place in the afternoons to avoid the training schedule. The 8 Squadron Hunters were gradually returned to Bahrain as the month progressed but a further two (XF455-T and XE654-E) were borrowed on the 29th for a period.

Preparations began for the pullout from Kuwait in early October and a nine-ship formation made a farewell flypast over Ahmadi and Kuwait on the 7th, a photographic record of the occasion being made from the T.7 (XL597). On arrival back at the airfield, the aerobatic team broke out of the formation and performed their display for station personnel. Later in the morning, General Mubarak, C-in-C of the Kuwait Forces, was treated to a flight in the two-seater under the control of Sqn Ldr Goodfellow.

The next two days were allocated to preparing the aircraft and packing equipment for the move back to Bahrain and this occurred on the morning of 10 October. Back in Bahrain, the Squadron was ordered to be at six-hours readiness to fly armed missions to Kuwait and twelve hours availability to re-enter Kuwait. After several practice displays and a performance in front of the OC Middle East Command, 208 Squadron was officially nominated Command Aerobatic Team. With an anticipated move down to Khormaksar earmarked for mid-November, Sqn Ldr Goodfellow flew down to Aden on 24 October to resolve certain problems associated with the move. The arrival in Bahrain on the same day of two refurbished aircraft (XF388 and XF462) from the UK, allowed the two loan Mark 9s to be returned to 8 Squadron at Khormaksar. Two more refurbished Hunters (XE552 and XK140) arrived on 2nd November, releasing XE421 and XE544 for return to the UK for refurbishment on the 4th.

The first two weeks of November were concentrated on training all pilots on simulated Canberra photo recce runs, carried out at relatively low speed, the two pairs flying continuous weave above and behind the Canberra. The Bahrain detachment ended on the 15th when, as 8 Squadron moved in the opposite direction, three aircraft departed for Sharjah and five for Salalah where they stayed overnight before moving on to Khormaksar on the following day. Two aircraft failed to start and were left at Bahrain to await the availability of a third having a fuel tank change and all three left for Khormaksar on the following day.

Although still working on a detachment basis until the end of December when all the ground and office equipment had arrived from Eastleigh, Khormaksar was now 208 Squadron’s permanent base and, apart from a few short detachments prior to the Kuwait crisis, it was new territory to many of its pilots. No time was lost in getting into operational mode for, on the 17th, two Hunters were sent to reconnoitre a village called Dhi Surrah to look for possible damage caused by dissidents, but the pilots could not find it. A second attempt on the 20th proved fruitful, the pilots reporting some damage. Three days later, the Squadron was tasked with providing a pair at 30-minutes readiness for the Dhala convoy, one officer accompanying the convoy as FAC, while four pairs of aircraft were flown to reconnoitre the route and to provide training for the FAC and familiarisation for the pilots. Another two Mark 9s (XE618 and XJ643)departed Khormaksar on 22 November for the UK while refurbished XK139 joined the Squadron on the 27th, followed by XF454 two days later.

On the 27th and 28th, the emphasis was placed on servicing aircraft so that six would be available for a flypast over the Arabian Protectorate Levies Federation parade inaugurating its change to the Federal Regular Army (FRA) on the 29th. Come the day and the six aircraft took of accompanied by three airborne spares. After the flypast the nine aircraft formed up into a diamond nine and flew past Steamer Point and Khormaksar before breaking to land.

Taking advantage of little up country activity, three Squadron aircraft (XF454, XF462 and XK139) departed for Eastleigh on the last day of the month to prepare the way for a formation flypast for the Tanganyika (Tanzania) Independence celebrations.

It may be pertinent to mention that although 8 Squadron was technically detached to Bahrain, approximately one third of its manpower and aircraft (4 x FR.10s plus 2 or 3 x FGA.9s) remained at Khormaksar, so 208 Squadron was not without support should it have been required.

The early days of December were used to familiarise pilots with the Protectorate, particular attention being paid to likely future operational areas. Down in Mombasa, one of the Hunters (XF454) practicing for the Tanganyika Independence Day Celebration flypast, suffered fuel flow problems and the pilot decided to jettison all four drop tanks (2 x 230 and 2 x 100) in order to reach base with the internal fuel available. On the 7th, a pair of aircraft (XE609 and XK140) departed for Mombasa carrying spares for the defective aircraft, which had been diagnosed with a leaking front tank, and the final four aircraft (XE552, XE643, XF388 and XJ687) flew out and headed for Mombasa on the following day. Come the day, 9 December, and eight aircraft taxied out for the flypast, two being detailed as airborne spares. However, during take off, the number two in the front section had to abort due to insufficient power and swung across the runway. This baulked the number three of the second section who also had to abort. The first aircraft (XE643) left the runway and retracted its undercarriage, resulting in Cat 4 damage (later revised to Cat 5). Meanwhile, the second aircraft (XE552) also left the runaway and narrowly avoiding the first, sank into the soft ground with no damage to the aircraft.