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Post by davebasing on Jan 8, 2023 11:07:32 GMT
A family non spotting holiday in Oman in November/December 2022. Fabulous country, time spent driving around in the mountains, the desert, the far south and the capital Muscat. 4 flights with Oman Air were very good, two in 787s and 2 in 737 Max, of which A4O-ML below became the 820th different registered aircraft to have carried me aloft. Our beach hotel on the outskirts of the capital was under the Muscat approach and below are just a few of my shots. Part 2 will cover the aircraft in the excellent Sultan’s Armed Forces Museum in Muscat and other shots from around the country. The CN235 is operated by the Royal Oman Police who have a number of aircraft and helicopters based at Muscat (and elsewhere) while the selection of the Air India Express 737s noted were nice in that all have different fin markings which are also different on each side of the aircraft. Biggest surprise was perhaps Lanmei AL A320 XU-901 which annoyingly landed the other way and my shot of it is far too distant to bother with. Returned to the UK from 27 degrees to find monkeys enquiring about soldering! IMG_5079 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_4499 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_4501 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_5250 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_5061 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_5170 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_5285 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_5248 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_3942 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_5084 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_5176 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_5160 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_5189 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_3937 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_5069 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_5163 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
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Post by davebasing on Jan 9, 2023 9:50:13 GMT
Part 2. The southern side of Muscat Airport doubles as Seeb Air Force Base where the gate is guarded by this Hunter. IMG_4033 by dave tompkins, on Flickr Slightly further along the road is the Police area whose gate has this Bell 412 A4O-CM. IMG_4035 by dave tompkins, on Flickr The excellently presented Sultan’s Armed Forces Museum in Muscat holds a small number of aircraft. Neither the Beaver nor the Provost actually served with the Oman Air Force and are in false marks. The Beaver is really Army Air Corps XP824 which I saw stored at St Athan back in 1976. The Provost is WV494/G-BGSB a former resident of Coventry where I saw it in 1978. The Skyvan was one of 5 of the type that I saw on the trip. 905 is preserved inside the gate at Salalah while 3 more are semi derelict at Muscat/Seeb. IMG_3994 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_3995 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_3999 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_4000 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_4001 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_4002 by dave tompkins, on Flickr At Salalah near the Yemen border, the only inhabitant of the civil ramp was this Lear Jet. Based Air Force NH90s however flew while I was there IMG_4933 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_4674 by dave tompkins, on Flickr In the mountains of Jebal Akhdar is Saiq AFB where AB205 726 is withdrawn together with a rather battered boomless example which remained unidentified. IMG_4331a by dave tompkins, on Flickr Close to Saiq in a remote area near the small village of Beni Habib is a more poignant sight, the mortal remains of 8 Squadron DH Venom WR552 which lays where it crashed on 30 August 1958. The wooden parts of the aircraft have long been either scavenged or weathered away, leaving primarily the DH Ghost engine, the centre wing section and parts of the fuselage and wheels. Other smaller parts still exist strewn along the wreckage path down the hillside. Flown by 26 year old Flt Lt Owen Clive Watkinson of Haverhill, Suffolk, the Venom was part of the UK’s assistance to the Sultan to suppress a rebel uprising. Failing to pull out of a strafing run the Venom smashed into the hillside killing Flt Lt Watkinson. He lays buried beside the wreck, his widow Jill (who he had married in Newmarket just over a year before his death) and the local inhabitants having agreed to his remaining there for eternity. RIP. IMG_4312 by dave tompkins, on Flickr IMG_4310 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
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Post by deke on Jan 11, 2023 0:24:09 GMT
Terrific set of photos and no doubt log from your trip. No concerns with photographing aircraft, especially military, then Dave?
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Post by davebasing on Jan 11, 2023 13:53:39 GMT
Terrific set of photos and no doubt log from your trip. No concerns with photographing aircraft, especially military, then Dave? Thanks Deke. No problems at the airports. Only issue was at Salalah where there is a Strikemaster (417) and an AB205 (730) preserved just outside the military gate, complete with data boards etc and clearly on public display. Was going to graph them but my local driver on the day looked as if he was going to have a heart attack moaning but they're military you cant do that. No one on the gate to ask (or even to see us) so in the interests of his health I gave in and just gave them a pat. It reminded me of Riga many years ago when the Russian Air Force were still there but winding down. My driver that day (for an airport ramp tour) and I found ourselves on the active Russian ramp and not one to miss the chance, started graphing. A Russian officer with more gold on his epaulettes than I've ever seen then appeared and began talking excitedly to my driver in Russian. His problem not mine I thought, till my driver turned to me and said "He just wants to know if you'd like to buy his helmet" ($15). He then asked me if I'd like to buy a helicopter ($5,000 for a flyable Mil 8)! So my son now has a Russian pilots helmet but no Mil 8 (I was tempted to tell my wife she could use it as a greenhouse, but the value of my future married life intervened)! All my driver said afterwards was that I should have bargained! On another day at Salalah and with another driver I'm sure it would have been fine. There is also a Skyvan (905) preserved there but that is some 100 yards or so inside the gate but clearly visible. Two of the Oman AF BAC One Elevens (551 & 553) are still sitting stored in good condition at Muscat/Seeb but my pictures of them from the terminal are rather distant and heat hazy.
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Post by billsamuels on Jan 11, 2023 20:48:21 GMT
Great report Dave. The hotel in Muscat looks to be a good venue for any future spotting trips…
Sad story about Ft Lt. Watkinson, interesting that his remains were left there. Did he have a CWG stone or was the conflict not officially recognised as such?
Bill
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Post by rugbyref on Jan 11, 2023 22:58:05 GMT
Hi Bill,
Interesting thoughts, and the following is in no way a criticism!
I am now a CWG volunteer, and have learned some interesting facts as a result. Among them is the fact that the CWGC is only responsible for war graves in respect of WW1 and WW2, with time limits on how long after the wars that death occurred. In one of the churchyards where I volunteer, we have a grave of a young soldier killed in Afghanistan. I am not permitted to tend his grave, as this falls under the remit of the MOD, rather than CWGC. So although the MOD headstone looks very similar to those tended by the CWGC, the responsibilities are different. (Still seems odd to me.)
cheers Phil
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Post by billsamuels on Jan 14, 2023 7:19:47 GMT
Thanks Phil.
I hadn’t realised that fact existed, but I guess it kind of makes sense. What a fantastic thing to volunteer for, well done mate.
The reason for my question, Dave was extremely helpful and very kind to me, when I was researching my uncle’s death in Malaysia in the early days of WW2. Sadly, in his case, there is no grave, just an inscription on the Kranji CWGC cemetery in Singapore. Would be nice to think that Flt Lt Watkinson has a similar inscription in or around the Haverhill area.
Best of luck Phil. I’m extremely lucky to have the Brookwood Military Cemetery very close by. I often go over there to walk through the many sections (Nations) which cover WW1 and WW2, it’s a beautiful location and is cared for by the CWGC who do a fantastic job.
Bill
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Post by davebasing on Jan 14, 2023 10:22:46 GMT
Full marks to Phil for his voluntary work with the excellent CWGC.
Flt Lt Watkinson's grave is not marked by any headstone. Originally buried under a small stone cairn by the very rebels he was fighting (reportedly with great respect for a fellow fighter) his grave was later moved a few yards with a full burial service to lay under a small mud brick structure just to the right of the engine in my photo.
As Phil says, the action in which he died falls outside the purview of the CWGC. Great respect for the work of the CWGC which looks after over two thousand cemeteries and memorials to over a million Commonwealth dead from the two wars, including some of my ancestors. Beautifully kept, it is always a moving experience to visit their cemeteries around the world and to look at some of the graves of often so very young men, most of whom left someone behind. Many, particularly in WW1, including one of my ancestors, had lied about their age in the patriotic rush to be able to enlist. A great uncle of mine was actually not only too young to enlist but also too young to be sent overseas but now lays under a CWGC headstone in Armentieres having been killed just days after his 18th birthday. The CWGC also looks after the country churchyard grave of my grandfather who died in the RAF just a week before the armistice.
They are also a very receptive organisation. I discovered while working on the family history that the date shown by CWGC for the WW1 death of one of my forebears was wrong. Providing them with extracts from the Battalion war diary and the Graves Registration Unit records they readily agreed to make the amendment on his record and headstone.
The CWGC does not hold or provide photos of individual graves but there are organisations that can supply them if they are available. When I visit a more remote cemetery outside Europe containing CWGC headstones I usually try to photograph as many of such graves as I can and send them to one of those organisations lest it may help any relatives who are searching for them.
The military cemetery at Brookwood, mentioned by Bill, is the largest CWGC site in the UK containing the graves of over 5,000 identified and 5 unidentified (but known to be RAF & RCAF) servicemen. It also tends the graves there (under contract) of a number of Chelsea Pensioners. The early hours of a long-ago Guy Fawkes Day found me in the Aircraft Accident Investigation Branch caravan from Farnborough at the wreck of a Caravelle that had slammed into a 900 ft Sussex hill late the previous evening while inbound to Heathrow having been cleared to descend to only 6,000 ft. I still have somewhere the original plot I drew of the wreckage trail early that November morning. It was before the introduction of flight recorders or ground proximity systems, so the cause was never conclusively discovered. It was also in the days before DNA and 19 of the casualties were buried as unidentified in the civil section of Brookwood (though their names are known in total – one of whom is Donald Campbell designer of gyrocopters such as the Campbell Cricket G-AXRA), arranged around an inscribed memorial. Give them a thought if you are passing that way.
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