Aden Old Photos 9: RAF Khormaksar Open Day

I well remember the Open Days at RAF Khormaksar for one thing only. I think it was the Hunter Squadron (8 Squadron) that was my favourite. For more standard information about the squadron go to http://8squadron.co.uk/index.php.

As I am in my cub uniform, I guess I got in free or at a reduced rate (my parents were very cost conscious). I was also not ashamed of the Cubs and enjoyed my involvement in the 14th Aden. Coming back to cold Britain and wearing dull colours instead of cool khaki made it less pleasurable!

In the second picture you can see the squadron had rigged up a toy aircraft, This was controlled by a usually eager child with a joystick type trigger. As the plane descended on the wires it was your task to drop the bomb on the enemy vehicles. It was a coordination test. I Loved playing it and I was pretty good at it.

One other experience that is still seared in my memory is riding on a camel. When I scanned the photo I was surprised I could still remember what the member of the camel corps who took us on the ride looked like. What I don't remember is the soppy girl I had to have clinging on to me. Look at her, she's older than me and soppy and girly and stuff! 

The last two photos are those embarrassing pictures parents always take. I could have censored them from the blog, but that would be wrong. So there am I in the - oh God, no wonder I can't remember this at all - "Chicko's Choochoo". 

Aden Old Photos 1: The Cubs

While having lunch with my cousin last year (2011), she commented I am about the only constant in her life other than her immediate family. This started a sequence of thoughts which made me realise that my father's overseas postings meant there were extended periods she would have known nothing about me beyond Christmas cards and maybe letters from my parents to hers. So I decided to write a small recollection of my time in Aden for her. I intend to post it here, eventually.

The memories I had were aided by the discovery of a reel of old black and white negatives( which is the worse for wear). Although I have already posted these on Flickr, I thought it might be interesting to post them here as well.

I was member of the 14th Aden Cubs. We must have been a pretty unique bunch of kids as we were Sea Scouts and Cubs. I have two identifiers as 14th Aden (Hood) and 14th Aden (Rodney). I am guessing these were the names of the sixes I was in.

I have absolutely no idea what these photos are all about, and apart from my mother (the lady with the sunglasses in the last photo) I don't vividly remember anybody else. Some of the other boys look familiar. Who are you? Where are you now?