1 May | The present officer commanding is Squadron Leader W Jacobs. UKMAMS is now suitably scaled for clothing adequate to permit their operating in Arctic and tropical climates. Landrovers and trailers have been established and a recent addition has been the Tractor Rough Terrain with a fork-lift capability coupled with 5 ton trailers. The next item needed is an efficient 2 way radio, capable of establishing a link between load control and aircraft loading parties. It is hoped that a suitable piece of equipment will be available soon. During their many deployments on all major Air Exercises and Operations supported by Transport Command, MAMS teams apart from working at all the RAF Staging Posts across the world have been deployed to assist in Operations in Cyprus, Borneo, Radfan, East, Central and West Africa, and British Guyana. They have assisted in various relief operations some being earthquake relief at Skopje and Agadir, also hurricane relief at Kingston, Jamaica. On Exercises, apart from deployment to airfields and airstrips throughout the British Isles, MAMS have supported the Transport Force during NATO Exercises, CENTO Exercises, Joint Service Exercises and Army Exercises. This has meant deployment to all corners of the Earth, some of the countries being Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Holland, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, North Africa, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Azores, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados, British Guyana, Jamaica and Portugal. From Portugal a Beaufighter was loaded into 2 Beverley aircraft and brought back to this country as a museum piece. During the crisis over Rhodesia 4 MAMS teams were deployed for duties at Nairobi, Dar-es- Salaam and Lusaka. This has now been reduced to 2 teams, I at Lusaka, and the other at Nairobi, the teams serving 6 weeks at a time loading and unloading oil for Zambia. MAMS teams are also established in MEAF, FEAF and NEAF. The UK teams have worked with all these teams as well as with RCAF, USAF, RHAF and many other Air Forces. They were also engaged at Copenhagen in assisting in the change over of the Danish contingent of United Nations peacekeeping forces in Cyprus. It is an interesting feature that most members of UKMAMS have logged over 300 flying hours in one years activities, this speaks for itself and leaves no doubt as to why the word MOBILE is included in their Squadron title. |
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May | Exercise Pond Jump | Lyneham to Namao, AB, Canada | Fg Off David Stevens, Sgt Rowlands, Sgt Wade, Cpl Cormack, SAC Gibson, SAC Yeoman. Positioning of 1st Battalion Royal Scots. (David Stevens writes: I had my biggest car crash ever in Edmonton - I was a pax.; the driver was a CAF navigator from the C119 Sqn in Namao.) |
May | Special | Thorney Island, UK | Flt Lt Gordon Spiers plus 2. Loading of Cabin Cruiser and Trailer for HM King Idris of Libya |
May | Exercise Nylon Pirate | Ballykelly, Northern Ireland | Fg Off JM Dunn plus 4. TA Weekend parachute exercise |
May | Special | Thorney Island, UK | Fg Off WE Worsley plus 3. Despatch of Hastings Task 5597 to a classified destination |
May | Special | Kano, Nigeria to UK | Flt Lt Nigel Healey plus 5. Recovery of Shackleton ground equipment from Nigeria to UK |
June | Special | Teheran, Iran to Cottesmore, UK | Fg Off Ian Stacey plus 4. Deployment of personnel and equipment to recover u/s Victor from Iran to Cottesmore |
June | Special | UK Various | During the Seaman’s strike, assistance in supplying RAF stores, foodstuffs and civil mail were provided by the following at various UK bases: Flt Lt Nigel Healey plus 4, FSgt Ray Marks plus 3, Fg Off M Green plus 4, Fg Off Bill Halford plus 3, Cpl Robb, FSgt Alan Knott, Cpl Chas Cormack and Sgt Earl |
June | Special | Scampton, UK | FSgt Ray Marks plus 3. Unloading of Britannia Task 6881 carrying a classified load ex-Cyprus |
July | Special | Kano, Nigeria to UK | Fg Off Nigel Healey plus 2. Recovery of RAF ground equipment from Nigeria |
July | Special | Laarbruch/Villa Franca/Marville | Fg Off Bill Halford plus 2. Sqn exchange of 2 Sqn (Hunters) and 31 Sqn (Canberras) with Italian and RCAF Squadrons |
July | Exercise Spread Eagle | West Raynham, UK | Fg Off JGL Furney plus 2. Airlift of Hunter Wing from UK to Germany |
August | Zambian Oil Lift (*) | Ndola, Zambia | Fg Off G Morgan & Fg Off JGL Furney plus 10. Providing Air Movements facilities in Zambia. (By the end of the oil lift on 31 Oct 66, 3,300,000 gallons of oil had been flown into Ndola) |
August | Special | Benina (Benghazi) to Kufra Oasis, Libya | Fg Off G Morgan plus 4. Movement of building materials from Benina (Benghazi) to Kufra Oasis on behalf of the Libyan Government |
26 August - 4 September | Operation Aloe | Zambia | |
September | Special | Thorney Island | Fg Off JGL Furney plus 2. Onloading of Special Argosy Flight 5557 |
September | Trial | Fairford | Fg Offs Glen Morton & Mike Green plus 9. Trial loading of Whirlwind helicopters into Belfast aircraft. |
October | Special | Guyana to UK | Fg Off Bill Halford plus 2. Recovery of 1310 Flight from Guyana to UK |
October | Special | Tangmere | Fg Off JM Dunn plus 2. Deployment of Signals Equipment to Germany utilising a Beverley Transport |
November | Exercise Calypso Hop | UK to Kingston, Jamaica | Flt Lt Nigel Healey plus 2. Deployment of personnel and equipment of 1Bn Staffordshire Regt from UK to Jamaica |
November | Exercise Rum Jungle | Barbados, Caribbean to UK | Fg Off Ian Stacey plus 6. Recovery of 1Bn Royal Ulster Rifles from the Caribbean to UK |
December | VIP Support | Gibraltar | VIP Duties at RAF North Front to UK and Rhodesian Prime Ministers having discussions aboard HMS Tiger |
December | Exercise Travelling Causeway | McClelland AFB, CA, USA | Sqn Ldr RC Ethereidge, Fg Off Nigel Sanders plus 4. Route activation for Belfast and VC10 proving flights |