Hunt 7

ANECDOTAL HISTORY

EVENT

HUNTER 2 - 1965 to 1971 [p 1 of 6]

HUNTER PRESENTATION :

NAVAL 8 / 208 ASSOCIATION REUNION

24th OCTOBER 2009 RAF CLUB

HUNTER CHAPTER PART 2

Once again we are very grateful to the Boss and current Members of 208 Squadron and their ladies for making the long trek down from Valley to be with us at the Annual Reunion, and for bringing with them the Squadron Standard tonight. [02] It is a good opportunity to have a closer look at it and to note the impressive list of Battle Honours.

Last year Tim Webb opened the Hunter Chapter of the Squadron history, tracing 208's [03] many moves and exploits from the introduction of the Hunter F6 , a brief reversion to the Venom to the Hunter Fighter/Ground Attack Mk 9, until its arrival, not for the first time, back in Bahrain in June 1964; this time “to take up residence” permanently on the rather rudimentary RAF Muharraq. Note the young, handsome, Tim Webb [04]

Tonight we continue the Hunter story from then until 1971 and the squadron's departure from Bahrain and the Middle East and the, thankfully, temporary disbandment.

I hope the ladies will be pleased to hear that there are plenty of pictures – and not all of aeroplanes – I find that pictures are always helpful – especially for navigators, and I am sure that any 'creamies' present will appreciate them too.

At this point I must say a warm 'thank you' for the great help provided by the Squadron in assembling this collage, especially the Boss, Wg Cdr Jamie Hunter and our recently appointed Association Liaison Officer, Flt Lt Tom Sawle, but most of all to Ben Laite for the enormous technical help and advice to this rather ancient Weapons Instructor, trained in the slide rule and Log Tables era!

THE MAP

As a start here is a map showing where the Squadron lived and operated over the period 1965 – 1971, showing the then Persian but now Arabian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula. You can see the the Island of Bahrain, and its NE coast the island of Muharraq, home of RAF Muharraq: the other bases where 208 was deployed or detached are also marked:

- Aden and RAF Khormaksar, down on the SW corner of the Arabian Peninsula, and close to the entrance of the Red Sea.

- moving up the coast to the NE was RAF Salalah, close to the main palace where the Sultan of Oman resided

- moving further up the coast of Oman is the island of Masirah, then an important staging post for the RAF, now the main flying training base for the Sultan of Oman's Air Force.

- turning north along the southern shores of the Gulf is Sharjah. RAF Sharjah , much visited by 208 but a wide cross section of aircraft and personnel occupied the airfield – the first ever airfield built in the Gulf area in 1932 as a staging post for Imperial Airways en route to India.

RAF MUHARRAQ

[6] This aerial view of the airfield at RAF Muharraq – long since now Bahrain International, shows the Squadron's Hunters on the pan before the squadron and offices were built. You can see also a Beverley, a Brittania and the 2 Pembrokes of 152 Squadron.

[7] Here are the rudimentary Ops buildings, ATC Tower and Passenger areas – a far cry from the state of the art modern terminal!

This picture was clearly 30 Squadron's (Beverleys) farewell – a 4 ship Hunter flypast overhead – the shadows on the ground are easier to spot