CHAPTER SIX

JOINING THE SQUADRON

When our leave expired we went by Egyptian Railways to join 221 squadron which was at that time operating from a desert base, LG (for landing ground) 89 which was on the Mediterranean coast some 25 miles west of Alexandria, the big British naval base. No sooner had we joined the squadron than the whole crew became unfit for flying duties, being stricken with the inevitable Middle East illness,"Gypo Tummy”, a severe form of diarrhoea. The toilets were a primitive six-seater bench over a long drop dug in the desert. Certainly no privacy sitting in the open. We had to rush to the toilet about every ten minutes. It was ten days before we recovered. By then I had lost nearly one and-a-half stone in weight. I never regained that weight the whole time I was in the Middle East .

LG 89 being on the coast, we were able to swim in the balmy Mediterranean on off-duty days. Being far from civilisation, as we thought, we swam in the nude - until we realised just over a sand dune there was a nurses' leave centre. However, no one appeared to be in residence. Presumably with the rapid advance of the German Afrika Korps towards Egypt, the recreation centre was no longer considered safe for the nurses. As it happened, our base was shortly after this moved to the safer area of Suez on the Red Sea end of the Suez Canal. We continued to use LG 89 as an advanced operating base but due to the continuing enemy advance, most of our off-duty hours were devoted to guarding our aeroplanes in case of a German paratroop attack. Mercifully no such attack eventuated.

This was the time when the British Middle East Headquarters in Cairo was making preparations to evacuate to Palestine if Rommel succeeded in reaching Cairo. As it happened, he nearly did.

Our first rear base for maintenance and crew rotation was at Gianaclis on the southern shore of the Great Bitter Lake which linked the northern and southern sections of the Suez Canal. Later the base moved to Shallufa just outside the city of Suez. There we were within walking distance of the canal. Its salt water was slow flowing so it was excellent for swimming. Very little shipping plied the canal in wartime.

The only occasions I went into the town of Suez - a most unattractive, dirty place - was to escort our ground crew who had day leave. Because air crew all carried revolvers in the Middle East, we were used as escorts of ground crew on day leave in case Egyptians felt inclined to rough-up our men. Assuming a German occupation of Egypt was nigh, which would expel the not very popular British, the ‘wogs” were becoming increasingly cheeky. Only once did I have occasion to fire my revolver. A group of Egyptians was making a threatening advance towards my party. One shot from me into the air scattered the not very courageous locals. On another occasion I was in Suez when a detachment of Arab Legion horsemen galloped in to town. The “wogs” scattered at the sight of these elite troops serving under British Command in Arabia. They had long flowing jet black hair, khaki Arab-style gown-like dress, traditional Arab headdress and were well-armed with Tommy guns and sabres - an awesome sight prancing on their black steeds!