Having joined the RNZAF in 1954 as an engine mechanic, William worked on a number of interesting aircraft including the Avenger, Harvard, Devon, Mustang and Dakota, and flew dogfights in the back seat of an Avenger. “They were the days when aeronautical hooliganism was encouraged.” He joined the RAF in 1959 to become a creamed-off QFI on the Jet Provost followed by a tour on the Hunter with 208 Squadron at Muharraq from 1965 to 1967. William spent some time at Khormaksar and is proud to have become the last RAF Officer to be banned from Aden for life.
“During my time in Bahrain, the 230-gallon drop tanks for the Hunter 9 were being modified to enable 7G to be pulled with them full. This was being done by the MU at Khormaskar. We would fly down from Bahrain with un-modified tanks swap them for modified ones and fly back to Bahrain. It usually meant two nights at Khormaksar. I was tasked to fly one aircraft with another aeronautical hooligan, Jock Watson, flying a second. We arrived at Khormaksar only to find that Gp Capt Beetham was holding his arrival party and that the main bar was closed for the night. Also in the Mess that night was a bunch of Army guys down from the Radfan and some Navy pilots who had flown in by helicopter from Ark Royal steaming off Aden. Plus all the 8 and 43 Squadron folk.
At about 18:00 we all assembled in the Jungle Bar for a few Carlsbergs and games of Carlsberg draughts. This went exceptionally well until about 22:00, after we have put away a significant number of tins of Carlsberg, and we all retired to the inside bar which had, for some reason, opened. Now there were two fans on the ceiling in the bar and at some point a person or persons unknown lobbed a beer can at the fan. One thing lead to another and it became a contest as to which squadron could hit the fan the most number of times. It turned out that I was deadly accurate and it became a contest of your hero standing alone defending the honour of the ‘Two Hundred and Eighth Fighting Pursuit’ against all comers. My buddy, Jock Watson, had gone off with some friends for a meal so I faced 8 and 43 the Army and the Navy alone. I was so accurate, and pissed, that people were handing me a Carlsberg can, which I would throw at the fan; Bingo another Direct Hit, every time a coconut as they say. Almost equals my achievement of getting the highest ever guns score on 208, 60 hits from 60 rounds. It was the first sortie of the day, the wind had not started to blow and it was as smooth as a baby's bum.At some point the disaster happened; some idiot, still unknown to this day, handed me a dumpy Carlsberg bottle. I took aim and tossed it towards the rotating fan, which it struck with a satisfying crunch. Fortunately the dumpy bottles were made of toughened glass and broke up into lots of crystalline pieces, rather like a car windscreen, so nobody was cut by flying shards. For some reason people kept handing me Carlsberg bottles and I kept smashing them in the fan - 208 1, Rest Nil. At around 02:00 we departed for bed, a good time having been had by all.
Later that morning, around 07:00, the Mess house boy was busy sweeping up the detritus when the Orderly Officer, an Admin or Stores nerd, walked in and said in shocked disbelief, ‘Oh My God, the pilots have smashed up the bar’, PANICS and calls the Duty Officer, another Admin nerd, who calls the Admin Squadron Leader, who calls the Wing Commander Admin, who comes over to survey the damage to the Bar, (bent cans and lots of small lumps of dumpy bottles). Meanwhile the house boy clears up the rest of the mess in a few minutes.
Now the TRAGIC bit. 8 and 43 have buggered off to Masirah for an exercise, the Navy have gone back to Ark Royal and the Army have been loaded into a Beverly and gone back to the Radfan. Leaving your hero as the only person on Khormaksar who was present during the ‘Destruction Derby’. By 10:00 Gp Capt Beetham, not a man known for his sense of humour, has ordered a board of enquiry, placed your hero under house arrest and generally lost what sense of humour he may have had. Jock Watson laughed his socks off as he waited for a replacement pilot to come down from Bahrain so he can get the aircraft back.
I spent a week at Khormaksar with this farce of a board of enquiry and returned to Bahrain in an Argosy. Awaiting on my arrival was a bollocking from Tony Chaplin, the Boss of 208, and the Station Commander who had received a letter from Gp Capt Beetham stating that, “under no circumstances is this Officer ever to go back to Aden”. I also refused to pay the fine of £30 imposed on me.”