There were no snags and with some relief we got away, with me flying the T7 again on Widge's orders. Widge didn't offer any explanation at the time; later on I found out why he wouldn't let me fly his aircraft - he had got an intermittent Fuel Low Pressure light, a serious technical 'snag' which could mean that the engine was about to fail. Typically, Widge wanted to take the risk himself and not pass it on to anyone else.  

We made it to Akrotiri and abandoned the aircraft to the technicians to sort out while we motored north to Kyrenia in a hired car, to spend an idyllic few days in a holiday cottage borrowed from an acquaintance of Widge's. This was before the tiresome invasion by the Turks and Kyrenia harbour was a visitor's paradise with few tourists, awash with Turkish and Greek character. On return to Akrotiri for some light entertainment we arranged a Combat sortie with some 5 Squadron Lightnings whose Boss, Wg Cdr 'Chalky' White, we had met in the bar. This was my first true Dissimilar Combat mission and I was impressed to see the big fighters running in supersonic behind us, the back of the aircraft enveloped in a cloud of condensation marking out the position of the Base Shock. This made them rather easy to pick up at low level over the sea. As expected, they made initial kill claims with their Red Top AAMs, which we took with a pinch of salt in the debrief. We reckoned we had sorted them out with guns when they foolishly slowed down to mix it with us in close Air Combat. The next day we flew on to Souda Bay in Crete where we were sent on our way by surly, unco-operative Greek Air Force technicians. This was the Greece of the infamous 'Colonels' Regime', and we got out of there pretty smartly. The next desirable stop was at Capodicino, Naples. We were hosted in fine style by a USN pilot called Steve Berry. We knew Steve well from his regular trips to Bahrain, ferrying Admirals to and from NATO HQ.  

Nursing severe Valpolicella hangovers we pressed on to Istres after a couple of days in Naples, landing in France in a torrential rainstorm on minimum fuel. I carried out my first-ever true formation landing on the wing of the ever-reliable Widge, who was in the T7, (equipped with windscreen wipers). Being unable to see anything forward from the single-seaters, Rog and I just hung on in close formation until we hit the runway. Our final leg to Kemble was the last flight of 208 Sqn DF/GA Hunters.

- Jerry Pook

  July 2021

  Extracts from ‘ Flying Freestyle’ ,  published by Pen and Sword

The Last Ferry Home 02

Back to
Hunter Articles

The Last Ferry Home Page  1  2