AIR BOOKING CENTRE, CAIRO 1946-47
"BOOKING OFFICE - PLEASE SHOUT"
As Remembered By Derek G. Simper
I was interested in the account of Ted Truman in the November issue of his time at the Air Booking Centre in Cairo where I also served in 197/48.
I was stationed at Almaza Airport working as an Air Movements Assistant at the time of the withdrawal of British troops from the Cairo area. After each shift came off duty we packed our bags and moved to RAF Fayid where we continued to operate without a break.
Later I was posted back into Cairo to work at the BOAC Air Booking Centre in Sharia Kasr-El-Nil as part of the RAF Cairo Detachment. Before going I had to go to a local demob centre to be kitted out with civvies because, of course, uniform was not allowed. We were billeted in what was the equivalent of a British boarding house.
Our job at the A.B.C. was to deal with military personnel who had to get back as quickly as possible to the UK on compassionate grounds. The RAF did not have sufficient flights to cope with the numbers needing to get home, hence the need to use BOAC services.
The detachment consisted of the C.O., F.O. Don Grice, L/Cpl George Culpan, L/Cpl Don Binks and myself (LAC RAF). Also attached to the unit was Cpl Jack Haliday (RAF Police) who was working on unsolved crimes.
It has always been a mystery to me how BOAC managed to transport all our people
because the telephone link with the Canal Zone was almost completely useless.
Shouting at the top of our voices was never enough to obtain the numbers and
names of the people we were expected to deal with.