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The Squadron returned to Nicosia at the end of May to continue with routine training and armament practice. Following the coup d’ etat in Iraq a six-aircraft detachment was sent to Amman in mid-July, at the request for British assistance by King Hussein of Jordan, in order to assist in stabilising the monarchy. The pilots went on readiness, became familiar with the area and practised ground attack sorties controlled by the Army. During the first week of the detachment rocket rails were fitted and a quantity of 601b. three inch rockets arrived thus making 208 the first Squadron to fire these rockets on the Hunter 6.

Back at Nicosia the remaining flight was experimenting with the newly acquired rockets and practiced both cine and live R/P attacks. By September however the Jordan crisis was dying down and the Squadron was re-united once more at Nicosia at the end of October. On leaving Jordan the Amman detachment was presented with an olive wood plaque with a mother-of-pearl crest from the Jordanian 4 LAA Regiment which is still displayed in the Squadron crew- room.

Routine training in the ensuing months was somewhat shaken by the news, at the end of January, that the Squadron was going to disband at the end of March. This was a blow indeed though it was heartening to learn that the Squadron number along with the Standard, silver and the long Squadron tradition of service in the Middle East was to be handed on to the existing 142 Squadron based at Eastleigh, Nairobi.

On 26th March the Squadron put on its final fly-past and aerobatic display before the C-in-C M.E.A.F., Air Marshal Sir William MacDonald, and three days later the Commanding Officer, four officer and ten other ranks left for RAF Eastleigh for the ceremonial handing over of the Squadron Standard and silver to the new 208 Squadron.

MOVE TO KENYA

On 1st February 1959 Squadron Leader R. Ramirez reformed 142 Squadron, an ex-Mosquito Squadron which had disbanded in 1945, and commenced familiarisation and training on the De Havilland Venom. The Squadron had only just settled down at Eastleigh however when 208 Squadron’s party arrived on 30th March for the official handing over ceremony of the Standard and number plate.

Once again therefore 142 Squadron ceased to exist and 208 continued its unbroken record of service in the Middle East. By a strange coincidence there was a remarkable similarity between the two Squadron Crests, 208 having a Sphinx head-on and 142 having a winged Sphinx sideways-on.

The Squadron soon settled down to routine training and in June went on detachment to Royal Rhodesian Air Force Station Thornhill for an armament practice camp of intensive rocketing and air to ground firing. This terminated in a most successful tour of the Rhodesias and Nyasaland before returning to Eastleigh. During the following months the Squadron participated in various exercises in co-operation with the Army and the aerobatics team perfected its performance which was ably demonstrated in August before the Sultan of Zanzibar on the celebration of his 80th birthday. The team at this time consisted of Squadron Leader R. Ramirez, Flight Lieutenants G.E. Ord, S.W.R.A. Key and P.R.E. McLeland and Flying Officer T.E. Riddihough.

The Venom having served a long and useful life began a graceful exodus from the Service in the latter half of 1959, 208 being the last RAF Squadron to operate Venoms. As the aircraft became time expired they were withdrawn and despatched to the M.U. for breaking up. Despite this the Squadron continued to operate effectively both in Africa and the PersianGuif area. Aircraft operations ranged from the Northern Frontier District of Kenya, with an army co-operation exercise with 24 Brigade, through Khormaksar, Riyan, Sharjah and Bahrain. Exercises with the Royal Navy and Trucial Oman Scouts also provided much interest and valuable Squadron training.

The Squadron, which provided the Command aerobatic team, represented the Royal Air Force at numerous trade fairs and official occasions both with the Venom and later, with the Hunter.

The Squadron left Nairobi for UK at the end of March, 1960 where a very successful two month conversion onto the Hunter FGA 9 was carried out at RAF Stradishall. Thirteen aircraft were flown back to Nairobi Airport, the new Squadron base, where training was resumed both in the operational role and also for the aerobatics team.

Numerous detachments took place in the following months which make life more interesting for the pilots. Four aircraft moved to Khormaksar in October to assist four 8 Squadron pilots, the remainder of whom had left for Cyprus, in armed reconnaissance and live operational strikes using rockets and 30mm cannon. The targets of these pre-planned strikes were locations in the hills which the Army suspected to be enemy positions.

In November, December and January detachments were sent to the Persian Gulf, a journey of some 2,500 miles, to exercise the mobility of the Squadron and also carry out long range reconnaissance flights and “flag waves”.

Just before Squadron Leader Ramirez left in March 1961 the Squadron was informed that it was to be presented with a shield and two spears from the Masai Chief of the Ngong area. The presentation, a ceremonial occasion, was an appreciation of the display the Squadron had put on at the Ngong trade fair some months previously.

Both the shield and spears were genuine and used, one of the spears being slightly bent having made forcible contact with a since deceased lion. The Squadron made a suitable presentation in return for these superb trophies and the latter still hang in the pilots crewroom today.