"LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT"
9 M.T.B.D. RAF EL FIRDAN - 1948-50
54 Maintenance Unit
As Remembered By Charles Harrold
At the age of 19, I made the decision to join the RAF for a period
of 8 years, and four years on the reserve.
The thought of being able to travel, overcame the desire of working in an engineering
factory as an apprentice, (right or wrong decision I will never know).
So in 1947, I received a travel warrant to go to RAF Cardington, where I was kitted out in uniform, issued with a kit bag and various items of clothing etc. And then came the Discipline, and training on the Parade Ground, typically known as square bashing. I was issued with an addition kit bag, a Lee Enfield 303 Rifle and posted to a transit camp in Lancashire and then on to Liverpool where we boarded the SS Oddessa, a very old troopship (we did not know our destination) but it was a lesson on how to sleep in a hammock, eat kippers and ice cream served on the same plate, and we eventually landed in very hot conditions at Port said, in the Canal Zone of Egypt.
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Life on board the S.S. Oddessa
It was here, that we arrived on the waterfront, and was addressed by an RAF Flight Sergeant, who looked at the motley lot of lads, in khaki drill, one large kit bag, one small kit bag, one rifle, all hot and sweaty, and he said this: I know exactly what you all think of me, and I know exactly how you all feel right at this moment of time, but just remember this “Life is what you make it” with that he marched off, leaving us to work it out. But I have always remembered his words and they have served me well over the years.
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. Charles Harrold
At 9 M.T.B.D. – Middle East Forces, RAF El Firdan, No 54 Maintenance Unit (one mile from Ismailia) was where all the RAF vehicles from all RAF Stations in the Canal Zone of Egypt were laid to rest and where all the new and reconditioned vehicles from Blighty arrived for distributions. It was a vehicle paradise, and what one was able to salvage could be put to good use “Life was what you made it”
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Another tent and its' occupants |
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Our living quarters were of a depression in the sand, lined out with sandbags, with a canvas tent for a roof. However, it was not long after one had became established on the camp, that our two person living quarters had a carpet on the sand, mains electric lighting from the camp generator, a paraffin heater, a wash basin, with hot and cold water, a short wave American ‘Hallicrafters’ Radio (from a derelict American communications vehicle) – Yes, once again, “Life was what you made it”
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Life at 9 M.T.B.D. El Firdan
The Motor Transport Section at RAF El Firdan
Also on the camp at El Firdan were Italian prisoners of war, who
could put their hand to anything and whilst there they built the Church for
the camp, mainly from wood, and from scrap materials that were scavenged
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The Church at El Firdan
During the three years (1948-50) that I was at El Firdan, I made
friends with the local Café proprietor in Ismailia who took me to his
garage and showed ma a jumble mass of motorcycles that he had bought at auction
from El Firdan. If I could assemble these into working motorcycles I could have
one for my own use.
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Mohamoud Salah Mahamid - cafe Proprietor Ismailia 1949
Having spent many hours in the convivial company of Mahmoud I
would very much like to contact him after all the years -
Mahmoud enabled me to travel around the Canal Zone after I had assembled some
Motorcycles.
In the afternoons when I was not swimming in the Great Bitter Lakes – wonderful under water swimming looking at the fish and coral formations – I would be working on the motor cycles, which eventually yielded a number of working assembled units, and one was all mine.
But never underestimate the problems to get a motorcycle registered in Egypt, I first had to obtain an Egyptian Driving Licence from an office in Port Said, and then get the motorcycle registered in Port Suez, both towns at opposite ends of the Canal Zone, but that was not all. The motorcycle also had to have number plates and these were cast in aluminium and only available for collection from the foundry in Port Said, well I wanted adventure and I most certainly got it.
I was able to travel on a Norton on holiday to Alexandria, a good
test for the motorcycle and its rider and here to proprietor tried her best
to recruit me into the CCPR Sokol which is the Russian Sports Academy in the
USSR. I could ride to the Bitter Lakes to swim and can you imagine, riding a
motorcycle in just a pair of swimming trunks and sandals, no crash helmet in
those days and it was glorious.
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Appendicitis arrived with me on the day of the Air Officer Commanding Annual Parade. No excuse was allowed on this day, every one had to attend. I was advised that no way could I go sick but there was no option for me, dressed up to the nines in starched Khaki Drill, White Webbing, and a perfectly cleaned rifle, I collapsed and was taken to the Sick Bay by two colleagues where the orderly refused to let us in until the Medical Doctor was called, a female who took one look at me and immediately told the medical orderly to call for the ambulance. During the 50 mile journey to RAF Fayid, I did not really know what was going on but on arrival my treatment was that of a VIP. It appears that I had a perforated appendix and spent a few luxurious days recovering in hospital. (Naturally I was very disappointed to have missed the AOCs Parade)
I mentioned starched Khaki Drill, on the camp there was a Chinese
Laundry and they produced your clothes laundered
in the most excellent way.
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Christmas at El Firdan
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After 3 years at El Firdan, I was posted back to RAF Honnington and then 3 weeks after my marriage, I was posted to Khartoum in the Sudan.
