Jebel Akhadar...
Posted: 26 Oct 2008, 11:31
This is a fascinating site by Laurence Garey about a campaign in the Oman that was over by the time I arrived in the region with 208 Squadron. All the Venom flying in this action was carried out by 8 Squadron. The site is well worth reading from top to bottom:-
http://l.garey2.googlepages.com/home
After all that was over, we used to do little flag waving sort of recces their with the aid of 8 Squadron pilots...We would fly as number two in a pair, led by an experienced 8 Squadron pilot who in briefing would help us to mark our map. He would lead in down the "Inner Circle" and up the "Wadi Halfein" to pop out of the top as the wadi closed, with the villages of Sharaijah and Saiq (Rebel Strongholds during the campaign) down to our left. The 8 Squadron chap would indicate all the finer points of the routes and we would commit it all to memory. Without this recce it would have been near impossible to find these places as they were not on the map until marked on by ourselves. The maps were not bad on contours but not much else. I still have my marked map and after I found the above site yesterday I enjoyed comparing my map with those on the site.
Here is a scan of my map, last used in 1959-60 :-
http://l.garey2.googlepages.com/home
After all that was over, we used to do little flag waving sort of recces their with the aid of 8 Squadron pilots...We would fly as number two in a pair, led by an experienced 8 Squadron pilot who in briefing would help us to mark our map. He would lead in down the "Inner Circle" and up the "Wadi Halfein" to pop out of the top as the wadi closed, with the villages of Sharaijah and Saiq (Rebel Strongholds during the campaign) down to our left. The 8 Squadron chap would indicate all the finer points of the routes and we would commit it all to memory. Without this recce it would have been near impossible to find these places as they were not on the map until marked on by ourselves. The maps were not bad on contours but not much else. I still have my marked map and after I found the above site yesterday I enjoyed comparing my map with those on the site.
Here is a scan of my map, last used in 1959-60 :-
