Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 20, 2017 0:58:12 GMT 12
An interesting article from the EVENING POST, 7 OCTOBER 1937, about a
WITH THE R.A.F.
SERVICE IN IRAK A FLIGHT TO EGYPT
WELLINGTONIAN ON LEAVE
Conditions as experienced by members of the R.A.F. stationed in Irak were described to a "Post" reporter today by Pilot-Officer Lawrence L. Hunt, who is now in Wellington on furlough after serving with the R.A.F. unit stationed at Shaibah, 17 miles south of Basra.
Mr. Hunt, who is a son of Mr. A. Leigh Hunt, of Wellington, started his career in the Royal Air Force at Grantham training establishment in October, 1935, remaining there until the end of July, 1936, when he was appointed to No. 15 bombing squadron at Abingdon, England, outside Oxford.
In November of that year he was appointed to duty in Irak, being stationed at Shaibah, which is a fenced camp existing solely for the use of the Air Force, and containing about 250 white people and about 300 native workers. For nine months of the year the squadrons spend most of their time in training which includes bombing machine-gun training, photography, etc. The remainder of the year is spent in training flights.
Mr. Hunt recently took part in a flight to Egypt, in which four machines participated. The aircraft with which the squadron is equipped are Vickers Vincents, practically identical with the Vickers Vildebeests in use in New Zealand, but having special fuel tankage, giving them a range of about 1100 miles.
"The first stage of the flight was from Shaibah to Bagdad," said Mr. Hunt, "and from there we flew to Rutbah, where Imperial Airways land their big machines. From Rutbah to Rarfileh we followed the well-known pipe-line for about 300 miles. Along the line are numerous pumping stations. We flew over Amman and Maan on the way to Ramleh, in Palestine, 10 miles inland from Jaffa. Next day we took off again, passing over the Suez Canal, and on to Cairo, thence to Alexandria, where the outward journey ended. We spent four days at Alexandria, and made the return flight by somewhat the same route as we had come out. Altogether the flight took us away from our base for a fortnight, during which time we passed over some very interesting country. On the outward journey, until we got to Amman, it was desolate and barren, but later we flew over very fertile country, particularly down the Nile and along the coast of Palestine. The flight was made at a height of about 10,000 feet over the desert, where it is very hot, but when we passed over Palestine we were flying at a height of only 3000 ft.
MANY CONTRASTS.
Irak was a peculiar country in some ways, said Mr. Hunt, and presented several contrasts. In the areas which were near the rivers it was very fertile, but other ports were sandy deserts. The Tigris and Euphrates were both banked by fertile areas containing many date trees, and as far as the eye could see from the air their course could be traced by a broad green ribbon of vegetation. Wheat was grown in some parts of the country, and he was of the opinion that if some means could be found of conserving the water supplies sufficient areas could be irrigated to make the raising of sheep on a large scale a successful venture. The necessary dams and huge engineering undertakings required to make this possible would, however, cost millions of pounds.
"Ur is only 100 miles northwards of where we are stationed," said Mr. Hunt, "and Babylon is 200 miles away. I was taken to the supposed site of the Garden of Eden, about sixty miles from Basra, and was shown a tree that was claimed to be the original apple-tree from the garden. It was an old dried stump leaning against a concrete pillar, and it certainly didn't look much like the real thing."
When the aviators had finished a period of service in the stations situated in the hotter portions of the country they were given a spell at a rest home in the Kurdistan Hills on the border of Turkey. Here, in a pass 6000 ft above sea level they were made welcome by the peasants, who were very clean compared with the ones with whom they usually came in contact, and had a simple mode of living, growing wheat and rice. They were very kindly disposed towards the British, who had driven the Turks away from their land after the war.
Irak had many disadvantages. The temperature could vary from 4deg of frost in January to a sweltering day of 125deg in August. There were millions of ants, snakes, and lizards (varying from an inch to 3ft in length), scorpions, and spiders. Mr. Hunt mentioned one species of spider which measured 7½in long. Mosquitoes and sand-flies were very plentiful and attentive, he said, and it was the rule that all the men had to sleep under mosquito netting as a protection against malaria and sand-fly fever. The conveniences at the disposal of the Air Force officers, however, included such means Of recreation as a swimming-pool, billiard tables, modern radio-gramophones, and similar advantages. For sport there were thousands of ducks on a lake some distance away, and if an aeroplane flew low over the lake they would rise in clouds of thousands.
DESERT TRAVEL SERVICES.
Mr. Hunt paid a great tribute to the work being conducted by the Nairn Brothers, New Zealanders, whose desert travel services have been the subject of praise the world over. They were even now encountering difficulties in keeping their roads open, he said, but their work had been responsible for a wonderful improvement in communication in the country.
Other New Zealanders who were serving in the R.A.F. in Irak included Mr. P. Tipping, like Mr. Hunt, an old boy of Rongotai College, and who passed through flying school and Home squadrons with him; Flight-Lieut. Bellringer, of New Plymouth; Pilot-Officer Kain, from Christchurch; and PilotOfficer Schraeder, of Wellington. ' Mr. Hunt is to rejoin his squadron at Shaibah on December 27.
WITH THE R.A.F.
SERVICE IN IRAK A FLIGHT TO EGYPT
WELLINGTONIAN ON LEAVE
Conditions as experienced by members of the R.A.F. stationed in Irak were described to a "Post" reporter today by Pilot-Officer Lawrence L. Hunt, who is now in Wellington on furlough after serving with the R.A.F. unit stationed at Shaibah, 17 miles south of Basra.
Mr. Hunt, who is a son of Mr. A. Leigh Hunt, of Wellington, started his career in the Royal Air Force at Grantham training establishment in October, 1935, remaining there until the end of July, 1936, when he was appointed to No. 15 bombing squadron at Abingdon, England, outside Oxford.
In November of that year he was appointed to duty in Irak, being stationed at Shaibah, which is a fenced camp existing solely for the use of the Air Force, and containing about 250 white people and about 300 native workers. For nine months of the year the squadrons spend most of their time in training which includes bombing machine-gun training, photography, etc. The remainder of the year is spent in training flights.
Mr. Hunt recently took part in a flight to Egypt, in which four machines participated. The aircraft with which the squadron is equipped are Vickers Vincents, practically identical with the Vickers Vildebeests in use in New Zealand, but having special fuel tankage, giving them a range of about 1100 miles.
"The first stage of the flight was from Shaibah to Bagdad," said Mr. Hunt, "and from there we flew to Rutbah, where Imperial Airways land their big machines. From Rutbah to Rarfileh we followed the well-known pipe-line for about 300 miles. Along the line are numerous pumping stations. We flew over Amman and Maan on the way to Ramleh, in Palestine, 10 miles inland from Jaffa. Next day we took off again, passing over the Suez Canal, and on to Cairo, thence to Alexandria, where the outward journey ended. We spent four days at Alexandria, and made the return flight by somewhat the same route as we had come out. Altogether the flight took us away from our base for a fortnight, during which time we passed over some very interesting country. On the outward journey, until we got to Amman, it was desolate and barren, but later we flew over very fertile country, particularly down the Nile and along the coast of Palestine. The flight was made at a height of about 10,000 feet over the desert, where it is very hot, but when we passed over Palestine we were flying at a height of only 3000 ft.
MANY CONTRASTS.
Irak was a peculiar country in some ways, said Mr. Hunt, and presented several contrasts. In the areas which were near the rivers it was very fertile, but other ports were sandy deserts. The Tigris and Euphrates were both banked by fertile areas containing many date trees, and as far as the eye could see from the air their course could be traced by a broad green ribbon of vegetation. Wheat was grown in some parts of the country, and he was of the opinion that if some means could be found of conserving the water supplies sufficient areas could be irrigated to make the raising of sheep on a large scale a successful venture. The necessary dams and huge engineering undertakings required to make this possible would, however, cost millions of pounds.
"Ur is only 100 miles northwards of where we are stationed," said Mr. Hunt, "and Babylon is 200 miles away. I was taken to the supposed site of the Garden of Eden, about sixty miles from Basra, and was shown a tree that was claimed to be the original apple-tree from the garden. It was an old dried stump leaning against a concrete pillar, and it certainly didn't look much like the real thing."
When the aviators had finished a period of service in the stations situated in the hotter portions of the country they were given a spell at a rest home in the Kurdistan Hills on the border of Turkey. Here, in a pass 6000 ft above sea level they were made welcome by the peasants, who were very clean compared with the ones with whom they usually came in contact, and had a simple mode of living, growing wheat and rice. They were very kindly disposed towards the British, who had driven the Turks away from their land after the war.
Irak had many disadvantages. The temperature could vary from 4deg of frost in January to a sweltering day of 125deg in August. There were millions of ants, snakes, and lizards (varying from an inch to 3ft in length), scorpions, and spiders. Mr. Hunt mentioned one species of spider which measured 7½in long. Mosquitoes and sand-flies were very plentiful and attentive, he said, and it was the rule that all the men had to sleep under mosquito netting as a protection against malaria and sand-fly fever. The conveniences at the disposal of the Air Force officers, however, included such means Of recreation as a swimming-pool, billiard tables, modern radio-gramophones, and similar advantages. For sport there were thousands of ducks on a lake some distance away, and if an aeroplane flew low over the lake they would rise in clouds of thousands.
DESERT TRAVEL SERVICES.
Mr. Hunt paid a great tribute to the work being conducted by the Nairn Brothers, New Zealanders, whose desert travel services have been the subject of praise the world over. They were even now encountering difficulties in keeping their roads open, he said, but their work had been responsible for a wonderful improvement in communication in the country.
Other New Zealanders who were serving in the R.A.F. in Irak included Mr. P. Tipping, like Mr. Hunt, an old boy of Rongotai College, and who passed through flying school and Home squadrons with him; Flight-Lieut. Bellringer, of New Plymouth; Pilot-Officer Kain, from Christchurch; and PilotOfficer Schraeder, of Wellington. ' Mr. Hunt is to rejoin his squadron at Shaibah on December 27.
