RAF SHALLUFA 1951-52

As Remembered By Peter Brummell

I arrived in Egypt on 14th Feb 1951. I was on Draft 230 and posted to RAF Shallufa. Shallufa was the most southernly of the RAF bases, a compact base with wooden billets and my home for the next 2½ years. The base had its own cinema & swimming pool, plus NAAFI and a Malcolm Club. At that time one could visit Suez and travel up to Fayid. We could walk down to the Suez canal , through the local village, El Genayen, to watch the ships go by. I even managed to go on a day trip to Cairo and visited several places of interest

On the base was 32 Fighter Sqdn with Vampires and Meteors, also a Target Towing Unit with Beaufighters. Each month a squadron of Lincoln bombers arrived from the UK and used the local bombing range for practice – with clear skies most nights the visibility was good.

In the summer of 51 we were Canal South Cricket Champions. The cricket team had a very good following and we were very fortunate to have a Sussex professional posted to the base. Gordon Potter was a very good batsman and leg break bowler and captained the team in '52. We were champions that year too!

Unfortunately things started to get difficult between us and the locals. One night we had to run from a gang of youths to catch the ferry back from Port Said to Port Fouad. Luckily we made it. Things came to a head in Oct 51. Married families were brought into the base for their protection. To accommodate them we had to double up in the billets. Many slept out on the verandas to let the families have some of the huts. Most of the families had left by mid-November. Extra guard duties were now the order of the day and most of the native labourers had left, leading to extra duties.

On 22nd October '51, a Vampire crashed on the runway and the pilot, F/O Heap, was killed.

We were now confined to camp and I found myself on guard Christmas Day from 6 am to 5 pm. The Sergeant of my section, Sgt Oldham, stood in for me so that I could have lunch with the rest of the lads.

Early in '52 I was promoted to Corporal and then often did night guards outside the perimeter in the Control Tower. Often there would be efforts to steal the electric cable for the runway lights.

By March '52, many of the native labourers had returned to work and some areas were now coming back into bounds. A rota was organised for leave in Cyprus and on a points system I was near the top.

In December '52, Joyce Grenfell was at Shallufa - how well she did in front of an audience of young lads.

In '52 we reached the Semi-Final of RAF Egypt Cup (Cricket). We met RAF Kasfareet away and had high hopes. However we were soundly beaten by 7 wickets!

In January '53, a Hastings aircraft crashed near Shallufa while flying from RAF Fayid. All on board were killed. I remember seeing it come down and I must admit I was nervous when the plane I flew home in was a Hastings. We had to spend the night at Luga, Malta because it had engine trouble.

I left Shallufa during Aug '52 – it was great to see the green fields of England again. Last year I met up with one of my cricketing friends and it was nice to re-live old memories.

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