The "Air Laos" aircraft brought back memories. When I went on detachment to Vientienne 1961 with 209 sqdn (pioneers) The airport was full of old Dakotas ,Curtis Commandos (yes) etc all of them had very small ident numbers ( they were used for opium trafficking) we believed..Great time was had by us.. our crew room was local massage parlour
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Re: RAF Changi - the last ten years -- Brian Grainger, 28/01/06 19:07:39
I was at Air Movements Section RAF Changi from Sept55
to Dec 57. I was a corporal working in Load Control
I also flew about 110hrs as AQM (Loadmaster) for Far East Com Sqdn, Far EastTransport Wing, In particular I flew several night flights from Changi to Hong Kong (Kai Tak)
when 48 sqdn was converting to Hastings and before they were cleared for Passenger flights. Prior to the Hastings, services were carried out with Valettas which took two days Stopping at Labuan and Clarkfield(Night Stop)taking on full tanks at Clark as there was no diversion to Kai Tak. This restricted the payload somewhat. I flew through out the far East from Negombo(Katunayake)to Hong Kong. I left the RAF and worked as a Traffic officer at Heathrow also doing some Loadmastering and Stewarding
Probably the best part of my working life. I now drive a bus part time still in the transport business.
