RAF ABU SULTANr
DILAPIDATED AMMUNITION DUMP REMEMBERED
When John Newman asked members to identify the dilapidated ammunition dump that he had guarded over Christmas in 1952 with a tin of sardines for his Christmas lunch, Basil Amis and John Flannigan concluded that it must be 9 Base Ammunition Depot RAOC at Abu Sultan. It covered about 27 sq. miles – or so they understood – and was surrounded by a double row of barbed wire with a minefield in between. On the inside of the wire was a track made by a Bren Gun Carrier that constantly patrolled the inner perimeter, this track also served the purpose of enabling the carrier crew to see footprints of anyone who crossed it in an attempt to infiltrate.
The old wooden towers he remembered were the wooden watchtowers with corrugated sides, which incidentally were full of bullet holes! Had John manned the most easterly tower then he would have been able to see ships on the Canal itself, of course had he been over the westerly sector then he would have been a very long way from the Canal.
9 BAD consisted of 3 sub-depots and the same site was shared by 128 MU RAF. There were also offshoots of 9 BAD, the loading wharf at Deversoir & No. 4 Sub-Depot at Lake Timsah which was on the side of the lake. The domestic site was some distance away from the ammunition depot. 9 BAD RAOC and 128 MU shared the facilities along with a Royal Pioneer Coy manned by personnel from Mauritius, Seychelles and Rodriugez. There was also an RMP Dog Coy with dog handlers drawn from miscellaneous units – oops, nearly forgot, there was also a very small Royal Navy contingent as well.
Adjacent to the camp site was 111 Company East African Pioneer Corps, a Kenyan unit – ‘Jambos’ as they were fondly known due to their habit of greeting everyone in Swahili – ‘Jambo’ meaning Hello – this company had its own facilities quite separate from those of 9 BAD and 128 MU. The two pioneer units provided the depot labour force under the supervision of the RAOC. 128 MU on the other hand, employed local Egyptian labour,
Memories of a 9 BAD RSM - this one was a former Guardsman and
a real colourful character. I wonder if anyone can remember the time when he
had the Provost Sergeant arrest an Egyptian Pie Dog for wandering onto his parade
ground (this was a patch of sand marked out with a perimeter of empty ammo boxes).
On another occasion, because he could not hear the lads feet bang on parade
because of the sand, he had them all transported to Deversoir airfield and marched
up and down on the concrete runways.
Charles Agar RAF Police Dog Handler 1948/9
writes:
Abu Sultan (RAF 128MU/Army 9 BAD) - these units were encompassed by 2 rows of
barbed wire with a minefield in between. The minefield was laid in 1941 and
as far as I know was never re-laid consequently due to the shifting sand, it
was possible for Wiley Oriental Gentlemen to cross it with impunity whereas
the occasional goat that strayed therein was blown up. 128MU was the Southern
half of the site and I remember a ‘road’ through it constructed
from de-activated antitank mines; the well-known large ‘pancake’
type. (At least I assume they had been de-activated but you never knew with
the ‘sand-happy’ characters around there!). There were 3 Bren carriers
then, 2 Army and 1 RAF - 2 were always kept up at the site and 1 at the Domestic
Site 2 miles away.
We had 6 RAF Police dogs and a like number of Military Police dogs. It was common practice for the normal ‘day duty’ personnel to do Guard Duty every 3rd night and they were mainly static duties either up a watch tower or just on the ground. The Bren carriers did not normally do regular patrols around the perimeter at night as you could hear them miles away, the static guards generally raised an alarm. Very pistols & flares were issued to some guards for both illumination of target and alarm purposes. Most break-ins occurred when railborne loads of ammunition were on site overnight and at various times we had RAF Regt or Royal Marine Commandos doing the guard duties. At such times it was beneficial for all other personnel to stay well clear of the place.
Much RAF ammo was wartime stock. We were given either British 1941 or ORBEA (Argentine) 1943 for use in our pistols. (The Argey stuff was rubbish with about 1 in 5 misfires) Every 3 months large quantities of assorted ammo. was taken into the desert and blown up.
There was no Sailing Club then, just a wharf where the weekly Sunderland flying boat tied up. We often used to walk our dogs down there for a bath and paddle during the day.
John Reed (Dick) writes:
I also did guard duties there in 1949/50. My sqdn 62 Rifle RAF Regt was assigned
the job of guarding the Royal Navy Ammo Depot compound situated within the main
compound. We used to come from our base at El Hamra for a 24 hour stint and
bring makings for a brew and bully beef & bread to see us through the night;
then breakfast and tiffin at the camp proper at Abu Sultan. I can remember being
on guard on Christmas Eve 1949, lying on the top bunk under the roof of the
Nissen hut that served as a guard room. It was as cold as a polar bear’s
backside; I had my greatcoat on and there I was writing a letter home trying
to convince them what a great Christmas I was having!
Yes I remember that damned Bren gun carrier, it always seemed to complete a circuit and go past our compound just as I got off to sleep when I’d just finish my two hours on.
It was a strange arrangement, RAF guarding a Royal Navy Depot and to top it all we had an Army Orderly Officer who used to look in now and then. We didn’t really know what we were guarding, some said it was secret limpet mines. There were massive blast walls round all the buildings and electric’s were supplied by two huge diesel generators; the whole compound was floodlit at night and the generators supplied the electric’s to cooling systems that kept these limpet mines (if that is what they were) at a very low temperature.
The compound was not run down by any means, quite the opposite, there were always some civvies about, I don’t know if they were boffins. I never saw any Naval personnel at any time I was there. If there is anyone who knew what went on in the compound, I’d be very interested to know.
Richard Jenkins writes:
I was the RTO at Abu Sultan from June to October 1952. My office (and living
quarters) were 500 yds from the 128MU fire station where I enjoyed(?) RAF meals
after negotiating the marked footpaths through the anti-personnel mines!! My
job, with the aid of one other sapper, was to arrange for train loads of very
antiquated ammunition and bombs to be conveyed out of the dump, onto the Egyptian
main line and then on through a small village to a Canal side wharf where barges
took the advance to the Med for dumping. The rail wagons used were very old
and the locos were prone to mechanical and electrical breakdown due to wear
and tear as well as the heat and sandstorms!
In addition, the rail tracks throughout the dump were usually
covered in sand and in bad condition so derailments were common. The East African
Pioneer Company did all the
hard work in cleaning the tracks and loading the wagons but due to the Mau-Mau
troubles in Kenya at that time, there were occasions when they refused to work
until one of their officers came out from their base to sort out one or two
trouble makers.