LIFE AFTER 14 YEARS IN THE ROYAL NAVY.1965 AGE 30
After reading an article in the Telegraph regarding a position in Bahrain for a Radar Engineer I went to International Aeradio Ltd in Southall for an interview and was very impressed with the company and how it was run and what it had to offer. I went for an interview and was asked if I could read a micrometer. Being an Artificer and having worked on lathes and milling machines for many years I found this a rather unnecessaryquestion and answered yes. He gave me one and I picked it up in one hand and read out the settings. He picked it up with both hands mumbled a bit and said correct and I passed the interview and joined IAL. This is the story of myself, my wife Danie and our 3 children Marcus, Micaela and Leo and dogs over the following 25 years. IAL favoured ex RN families with children because they were used to overseas life. When our children reached 5 on site education was paid for but most children went back to UK at around 9 years old and we had to pay our own fees but the children were given 2 free flights a year to join family in the school holidays. Luckily all our children enjoyed their first school Northcliffe in Romsey where they all had the same Head Master Mr Roberts Wray and his wife Pam a lovely couple with whom we still keep in touch. My wife and I remember on one occasion visiting the school when our daughter Micaela came 3rd in a 100yds race.
IALs main office was in Southall Middlesex. Next door was the headquarters of BOAC Speeddbird House. IAL were the principal shareholders and every year we were given a check up with one of their doctors for all the family and another with the dentist. Another perks was rebate travel on all the BOAC and South African airways routes.10 percent on standby flights and 50 on confirmed flights. This was very handy for us when later in my career I was posted to Mozambique. I often returned from overseas for training and stayed at Speedbird House. They provided excellent accommodation. The single rooms were well furnished and very comfortable. Floor3 was out of bounds and was for Airhostesses doing their initial training and other courses. There was one big problem however being in Southall the population was mostly Indians and Pakistanis and if you wanted to go to the cinema the nearest one speaking English was a long journey to north Ealing.During this introduction I would like to add that both my wife and family were so very lucky, the career I had chosen could never be repeated. The majority of countries can now maintain their own equipment’s and the days of the Expat are over.
MY FIRST POSTING DEC 1965 TO LIBYA.
Prior to this I was initially told that I would be going to Bahrain because of they wanted engineers with radar experience. I put my feet up and waited for 3 months on full pay but eventually this was changed to Libya, As it happened this was a very good move because working there for the next 5 years I obtained a broad knowledge of most of the Communication, Navigational Aids and Metrological equipment associated with all airports which was very useful for future postings. I never worked on Radar again.
In mid November 1965 I arrived in Benghazi Libya and was given a flat in the middle of the town. I complained about the poor standard of the furniture. Not a good start it was replaced when I threatened resignation. At he end of December my wife Danie arrived with our son Marcus aged 18 months. At that time it was the law that all shops had a picture of King Idris above the entrance door. This was to change near the end of my posting when Kaddafi took over and all pictures were taken down. In the centre of the town there was a lovely small park with seats and large green trees. A nice place to sit in the shade in the summer. Many of the trees had big holes right through the trunks caused by shells from the 2nd world war. (I regret now not taking a photo it would have a been an amazing picture.)We did however have lovely beaches, one of these was called the blue lagoon but you had to be extremely careful when swimming because the locals would used dynamite for catching fish. Its hard to believe but living in Libya in those days the only way of keeping up with all the home and world news was to have the best possible radio to listen to the BBC.I bought a Braun a top of the range model and it gave excellent reception. There was no TV or telephone service to UK. We had to wait another 11 years until were posted to Saudi Arabia in 1976.I started my career as a complete novice in a job that was completely new to me .Over the next 5 years I worked very hard to gain new knowledge of Communications .Navigational Aids and Metrological Equipments found on most Airports. I started on watch duties basically 2 days on and 2 off giving plenty of time off with the family to enjoy life. The airport had 2 VORs (Visual Omni range which told the pilot when landing he was on the centre line of the runway)One of these had not worked for some time. With new parts I got it working.
I mention this especially because later on I was posted to Mozambique and they had the same VOR equipment but it was not working. It was in a high security fence area where there were 3 big Cashew nut trees. I deliberately took a long time repairing this equipment.
I became very adapt and enjoyed working on teleprinters. My senior engineer Dennis Darker was a big and likable fellow and decided to try his hand at it but often became very angry and would throw the teleprinter out of the window. His wife Isabel was very petite and looked lost alongside her husband but they were a very pleasant couple. After 3 years I gained promotion and at the end of this tour I never did shift work again.
At the airport there were 2 Germans ex POW working for IAL. One was in charge of the Power Station and responsible for all the electrical distribution and the airfield runway lighting. I cant remember his name but he had many children. The other was Joe Plesinger a radio technician who work on shifts like me. On one occasion I had a problem with a Transmitter not working. He gave it a kick on the bottom front. Hey Presto it worked. Another time on night duty the same problem occurred. I gave it a kick but nothing happened. I told Joe the next day and he told me I had kicked it on the wrong place and showed me where. I marked the spot and never had the problem again. .
In the desert we found a small pure white Pie dog and called him Bert. Marcus adored him and they were together all the time. He particularly liked being pushed in a baby walker and putting his toys in it. When we were out the locals would try to kick him when riding their bicycles. Considering he was a bush dog he loved going in the sea but was difficult to train. He was quite a big dog when fully grown and when this time the locals tried to kick him he pulled them of their bicycles Unfortunately because of this sadly he had to go. He was the first of the many dogs we had overseas. A friend of mine Ron Cliff who also worked for IAL introduced me to the BP football team, I joined and although it was rough and rules went by the board sometimes I thoroughly enjoyed it and played for them all the time I was in Libya. However Ron was posted and for the next 4 years I had a second unofficial job working on the side for a Swiss airline called Air Libya. They were working for a company on oil exploration. Ron had made a small and very well equipped workshop to repair all their Radio and Navigational equipments which he passed over to me. I can still remember the aircraft call signs probably because I used them so often. The DC 3 was N166J and a Beachcraft was N5967C.Both these aircraft were suitable for desert landing having one wheel at the front and 2 at the back. Later on they had a Pilatus Porter. This was an aircraft capable of landing on very short runways. Sadly later on the Swiss pilot had a crash taking off in the desert and was killed. My job was to service all the Aircrafts in the Hanger but for the Navigational Aids this required being airborne. I would sometimes have a go at flying the aircrafts under supervision. I was paid for every job I completed and found this inconvenient. After a while I said I would prefer to be paid on a monthly basis. This was turned down. As their business was flying personal on oil exploration any problems with their radio and Navigational aids equipment meant their aircrafts were grounded and they would lose income. After a very short time they agreed to my terms. I spent some time away from my family and it could be hard work but with this extra income plus my IAL salary after our first 5 years we managed to buy our first bungalow in Fareham.
On my night watches I had a Bedouin who on paper only was called a Technician. He had Bedouin friends who were airport guards and would come in for a cup of chai. They wore ex British Army great coats which were far too big for them but were likeable and wonderful old men who normally looked after camels. However one night a guard came into the workshop and took out a revolver from his coat. He spoke no English but I worked out he wanted me to repair it. I could see it had been dropped and asked him to put the bullets in his pocket. With a couple of new screws job done. However this was a bad move. No he didn’t shoot me. What followed was unbelievable because on some nights I would have a selection of Enfield rifles and revolvers on the workbench .I did repair quite a few but others required parts that I didn’t have.
My Bedouin attendant was always asking me to visit his family in the desert. One day I agreed and took him in a Landrover to his home(A very big tent) about a 3 miles drive. He would walk that distance on all his shifts. I greeted his wife and others of his family. The tent was surrounded with camels and he asked me if I liked their milk. I gave the thumbs up. It was awful and he asked me if I would like another. I politely refused but indicated it was delicious.
Soon life was about to change. There were anti British demonstrations on the streets and this was the lead up to the 6 day Arab Israeli war from June5th to June 10th 1967. Moshe Dayan forces destroyed most of Egypt and Syria’s air forces on day1. Jordan followed on day 2. They all took no further action in the war. On the 6th day Israel had taken control of the Sinai Peninsular, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The British Embassy had their own radio transmitter keeping us informed of the situation. On the 4th June we were told we would be going to the British army D’Acosta Barracks in the middle of the night. A friend of mine who lived below us offered to take us in his car. I gave ours to a Libyan friend of mine to look after. Before leaving the flat I spiked all the alcoholic drinks with rat poison. At the appointed hour we were told to assemble at certain points in the city. Being typically British the first priority was to bring all pets dogs cats birds first with their food and dishes and us mortals were to follow with toiletry’s plus1 suitcase each. Our pick up point was just below our flat which was well hidden. We arrived at the barracks and were all temporally put in a very large hall with washing and toilet facilities. The next day our dog Honey was put into kennels. This was like home to home for her as she was given to us by the garrisons sergeant major when he left. They were well prepared for such a situation and had wells obviously dug for such an occasion so water was plentiful. There was a massive store which had ample supplies for a very long time. We had 3 good meals a day with a choice of food which was far better than we would normally have as it could not be obtained in the shops locally. There was a NAAFI, swimming pool, tennis court, cinema and a games room. It was like being on holiday apart from the situation we were in. The barracks were impregnable with a very high barbed wire fence around the perimeter. Also we had the Irish Enniskillens who would often fight among themselves to guard us. An attack from the air would have been the only problem but this was out of question as we had the RAF stationed in Tripoli. On the 10th June we left the barracks and arrived back in the flat. I picked up my car from my Libyan friend but unfortunately had to ditch all my booze.We still had a curfew however with Algerian soldiers on the streets from 2130 to0500.This lasted for a couple of weeks and then life was back to normal.
At the airport on watches you were paired up with a Air Traffic Controller. I was with Bill Franklin an ex RAF officer. We got on very well together. At the far end of the runway there was a rise and any aircraft landing could not be seen. Part of our duties were to carry out runway inspections and on occasions when an RAF aircraft had landed for refueling and taken off again Bill would call me to do a runway inspection. Near the far end of the runway I would get out with a torch. .He would give me precise instructions as where to look usually next to a runway light and well hidden would be a crate of scotch. Obviously RAF friends of Bill in the past. On night watches he had a camp bed on the floor and as there were very few aircraft movements I rigged up a system so he could talk and land aircraft without getting up. Some years later I passed through Entebbe airport and met up with Bill again. This was before the raid by Israeli forces.
We had a new engineer join us. He was graduate in electrical engineering. On one of his night duties he had a fault with the Outer Beacon. This was about 8 miles out in the desert. He couldn’t repair it and disconnected the complete beacon and brought it to the workshop on the back of a Land Rover. What a sorry site it was covered all over in sand dust. The fault turned out to be a blown fuse. Sometimes experience is far better than a piece of paper.
At the end of July 67 we moved to a nice villa on the outskirts of the town. I still remember this because we took a short cut across the salt flats and our wheels got completely stuck and I had to get one of the airport Land Rovers to pull us out. Not a very good start but entirely my fault because I was trying to take a short cut. It was nice to get away from the city to a quiet location. From the side of our house it was just open desert. There were only 6 houses in the road all recently built. We were very lucky BP had a excellent swimming pool just over the road from us and being a member of their soccer team I became an honorary member. Apart from the swimming and relaxing we held barbeques and many good friends were made. Another useful asset BP had their Clinic with English doctors and nurses just down the road. This was to become so very important to us later on. The climate in Libya was seasonal as in UK the summer was very hot with very strong sandy winds called ghiblis. It was impossible to keep these out of the villa ,the sandy dust got everywhere even with doors and windows firmly shut. Cleaning up afterwards was a nightmare. In the spring it was very pleasant but in winter it could be very cold and rainy. Anoraks came in very useful. Danie has kept a diary from her school days up to the present time. This has been of great help to record detailed information to write all of my story.
At the beginning of August 1967 she went back to UK expecting our second child Micaela and returned early December with her at 3 weeks old. One day when Marcus was about 4 we lost him. Danie with all of our neighbors searched everywhere. Being so close to the desert this was very worrying , however he suddenly appeared at our front door as if nothing had happened with an immaculately dressed Arab. He spoke excellent English and said he was delighted to bring the boy back home. My manager later on in this posting was Alan Clarke a most delightful man, very fair, sensible and easy to get on with having many years of experience in overseas life. The following story is unbelievable. We had a new Danish Air traffic Controller who complained to him that his outside gate was squeaking and it was getting on his wife nerves. Alan told him to put some oil on it. This is even better he complained that his toilet would not flush properly and could he arrange for a plumber to visit. Alan told him this was Saudi and to get a stick wrap it around with rags and bung it down the Loo. What a waste of my time he told me later.
My Mum visited us, it was the first time she had ever flown. The plane was a Comet the first Jet airline plane. I met her as she came down the gangway on the tarmac with a Landrover, took her to immigration , had her passport stamped ,collected her suitcase and drove home to our villa.(One couldn’t do this today).We took her on picnics and visited the Roman sites. She told me later that is was the best holiday she had ever had. Our villa had a very big garden with grass lawns at the front. One side wall was completely covered with poinsettia and the front covered with a hibiscus hedge. On the side of the villa we had a large grape vine and also in that space we grew broad beans which we both enjoyed and would take home if the picking coincided with our leave to give to Danies Dad because this was his favourite vegetable. We had a gardener called Ali whom the children adored and would often see him sitting down legs crossed with them eating crusty old rolls dipping these into his chai. He would complain about the buggers (bugs)in the soil when the vegetable had been bitten by them. To get those sort of completely uneducated people being so clean, kind and I would say so lovable and trusting in the world we live in today would be very hard to find .We had complete trust in him and on occasions he would baby sit for us.
In 1967 I was in the control tower and by chance heard Tripoli Airport speaking and breaking through on our frequencies. This was called ducting and common in hot climates. Tripoli was some 800 miles away and the British Army had a base there. Next time on leave I bought a television, very high gain aerials for stacking and a high gain amplifier plus fittings, coax and plugs. I bought the highest mast and assembled the aerials on the lawn and without erecting I had a picture straight away. On the 21st June 1969 we had a perfect picture of Apollo11 on the first moon landing by Neil Armstrong and his crew. I had invited round about 20 friends. We were the only people in Benghazi to have seen this and could now keep up with the world news.
Libya had a climate similar to UK with all the 4 seasons. In the summer months we would all go out to the fields which were often very muddy and hard going especially when you were pram pushing to pick mushrooms. The Arabs would call them a word sounding like gumphi. As mentioned we had a Boxer called Honey. What a character we could have written a book about her alone. She was given to us by the Garrison Sergeant Major when he left Libya and when we gave her the first meal she wouldn’t eat and just stood there looking at in a pool of water. We realized there must have been a command and after calling out all possible words I was about to give up and said OK that’s enough. I didn’t finish the sentence OK was the command. She had purposely been trained because thief’s wanting to burgle a house would throw poisoned meat to the dog if it was outside. She loved one particular blanket and would carry it everywhere around the house. When she dropped it at your feet you knew it was time for bed. She loved the beach and was obsessed with stones. We would throw large stone into the sea and she would swim down and pick them up. If you threw it over a 7ft brick wall she would still clamber over and retrieve it. However she was very intelligent and if you mentioned the word (Beach) would immediately jump in the car before you could pack it. You had to spell it out B E A C H. On one occasion we had just bought some doughnuts and left them on the floor in the kitchen when the door bell rang and some friends arrived. When they left we went back to be greeted by a massive pool of water with the dog starring over them. Sometimes when we had guests we would put Honey in the kitchen and as a party trick asked them to hide any tasty food in the lounge and she would find it. She never let us down.
On the 22nd October 1968 Leo our youngest child was born in the Mennonite Mission Hospital quite close to us. A day to remember. It was in the rainy season and on this occasion we had many floods especially around the hospital. They were so bad I had no option but to carry Danie into the hospital. However all went well and later on he was christened in the Anglican Church with our Swiss friends Henry Brunier an Air Traffic Controller and his wife Alice as God parents. It was unfortunate but poor Leo was sick during the ceremony. We spent a lot of time on the beaches together/ I bought some diving gear from the Army base and he taught me how to scuba dive. We were very lucky because they would also refill our cylinders. I enjoyed this new sport very much in the summer months as the seas around Benghazi were ideally suited for this. I met them both again in Bahrain when I was visiting for spare parts. I remember the swimming pool water being so hot it had to be cooled down. When Leo was 5 months old he caught pneumonia. We were so lucky within walking distance was the best hospital in town run by BP with English doctors and nurses. He spent 3 worrying weeks in hospital but made a full recovery. What a relief and many thanks to them.
In April 1969 my Mum flew out on the first Jet Aircraft a Comet. When the plane landed I drove my car and met her at the bottom of the steps, then Immigration followed by the journey home. You couldn’t do this nowadays. During her stay we took her to the Zoo and would leave her at a lovely park called Lunar for an hour or so where she would meet people to chat with. We also took her to Tocra where we often go t o to see the Roman ruins. Later on my mum told us it was the best holiday she ever had. Opposite our house a Russian Aaqcouple and their son about the same age as Marcus moved in. The wife was a keep fit fanatic wearing the most skimpiest clothing. She would perform every morning her exercise routine in their front garden. Danie and I found it very entertaining when watching her routine she was very good though. Their son regardless of the different language got along well with Marcus and they would play together. On one occasion he was running around our garden waving a Russian flag. Not to be outdone I went to the British Embassy and asked to borrow the biggest Union Jack explaining the situation. The next day Marcus was rushing around their garden with a bigger flag. The Russian couple and us had a good laugh about it.
During our tour we visited the archaeological Roman towns of Cyrene and Tockra. In Cyrene there were ruins of a beautiful very large Amphi theatre and a pool said to have been used by Cleopatra and many columns mostly by the sea. Cyrene is set back from the Mediterranean shore in the foothills of the Jebel Akhdar of eastern Libya about 175 km east of Benghazi. It originated as a Greek colony in 631 BC but became a Roman province in 74 BC until it was destroyed by a major earthquake in 365 AD. It combines impressive elements from both its Greek and Roman past.
On the 1st September there was a coupe King Idris was deposed and Colonel Ghadaffi took over. All the pictures of the King in every shop were immediately removed .Libya would never be the same again. At least we can remember it as it was and all the good times we had. As a result of the coup things got a bit nasty.
Egyptians troops arrived at the Airport and the old Bedouins who worked with us said they were bad people and did not like them and would not work with for them. I also briefly met Nasser who arrived on a short visit to the airport. Eventually the Egyptians took over from IAL replacing the Air Traffic Controllers and Engineers. The time soon came to leave and foreseeing we would have problems going through customs I put and all of Danies jewellery 22ct gold including 5 lovely bracelets (which she still has today) inside an electric iron taking out the heating element but allowing the light to come on if switched on. As envisaged we did have trouble and they were very nasty and thoroughly bodily searched us and went through all our baggage and anything of value they took. It was pointless complaining, all we really wanted was to get on a plane and get home.
