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.
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
Click for Index