RAF FAYID, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL 1953-56
"FIREWORKS AT FAYID"
As Remembered By Ronald M. Harrison
I was employed as an Ops. Clerk at Fayid Air Traffic Control
Tower and witnessed many amusing incidents thoughout my spells of duty. We
had
a controller, Flt.Lt.Karlikowski (later changed his name to Carlton ), who
was Polish and quite a character. One night he took me out on a hunting expedition
into the bondoo several miles from the airfield and camp. He acquired the
crash land rover and off we went, equipped with a large stock of Verey pistols
and cartridges from the ATC stores!!
He had great fun chasing desert foxes and firing off large
quantities of Verey lights, mind you, he was a pretty poor shot and has yet
to kill one!! Of
course, the pyrotechnic display was not appreciated by the duty guard commander
who thought the camp was being invaded as the desert skyline was lit up like
a Christmas tree.
Some bright spark decided that in order to make the station more secure and to stop break-ins a pyrotechnic flare would be positioned within the security fence wire every 50yds or so with an interconnecting trip wire. Sounded a good scheme in theory but they hadn’t considered the effect of Pihard dogs which marauded the wire at night. Of course they traversed the wire in their droves – resulting in a firework display second to none!