204 SQUADRON - RAF KABRIT - 1948-49

As Remembered By Vincent Ray

I joined the R.A.F. transport 204 squadron in February ’48, as an AC1 instrument basher, and later took the exam for LAC, (only for the extra cash, which I sent home). The photos show the ground crew at RAF Kabrit, all of whom were a really great bunch of blokes. Guard duties came round every third night which was a bit of a bore but this was one of the best times I had in the RAF.

We had a very good sailing club where I also learnt to swim. I took part as crew in a local Regatta at 109 MU just further along the coast of the Great Bitter Lake – we came second. Our skipper was a wireless radar tech (who got demobbed a few weeks later) and it was he who taught me the first rudiments of sailing. In later years I bought my own yacht which I kept in Chichester for many years, sailing the Solent with my wife, children and later my grandchildren.

We often flew with the crew on flights to other places in the Middle East including Cyprus, Malta and Nairobi, and also to a big air base near Baghdad, which I think was called Habbaniya, where we were under canvas for a while. On one of these trips the skipper asked me to take control while he did some paperwork – I don’t know why he didn’t just use the auto pilot but after a while he suggested that the wireless operator take over because he said my wanderings with the controls would either leave the passengers sick or drunk. The problem was I am colour blind and I couldn’t see the horizon clearly so I had tried to fly on the instruments.

I was at first puzzled when reading the last Issue that no mention was made of the German prisoner of war camp at RAF Kabrit but it occurred to me later that it had been closed prior to those mentioned in the magazine – later a married quarters settlement was put up on the site. This was just prior to my demob in September 1949.

204 Sqdn Ground Crew	Outside the Airfield Flight Office
My home in Kabrit	The lookout over the Great Bitter Lake. Sometimes a shark from the Red Sea could be seen
Outside our billet	Ready for work
Obviously an unusual plane as seen by the number of people present	Self at Kabrit
This man taught me to sail and we came 2nd in the 109MU Regatta	Self at the jetty with sailing dinghies in the background
Self with my sailing dinghy	Not me playing football - just supporting our guys but I did play cricket for the Squadron
Ivor (I think) from Aberdeen - with church behind	Pete Harris
Some of my friends in 204 Sqdn .........	...........But after 70 years I cannot remember their names
The Squadron on a trip to Ypres and a day out in the town	North African Base out in the desert
Self - all dressed up	Cunard White Star S.S. Scythia passing by at French Point

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