I started this site because I always seem to get problems when I try to find old mates on the web. So I thought if I can't get to them maybe they can get to me. So far it has been quite successful and I have made a few contacts. there are still a few people that we would all like to contact so if you are reading this and you were with 51 between 1965 and 1973 give us a bell, or email We would love to hear from you. If you are a later member of 51 or of any of its former or later incarnations you are still welcome to contact us as well. There are also sites out there for the same years and they are by Ron Snook and Taff Fisher. Links to these sites and other sites of interest are on the links page. So, on to the nitty gritty and tell you the way I remember 51 Squadron.
It began for me when I arrived at Ripon in November 1965. Most of the Squadron had already formed and just a few of us were needed for the final round up.It was there that I first met people like Taff Fisher, Harry Cook and Fingers Taylor. I remember Ripon as a cold windy place where a parade was torture to be endured and Sgt Major Kean was King.
I left for Singapore with the Main Party from Newcastle Airport where it was freezing cold and black ice was on the roads. After about 24 hrs and stops in Istanbul, Ceylon and Barhain we arrived in the early hours of the morning in Singapore. The sight and smells plus the heat made an impression I will never forget.
Over the next few days we adapted to the heat slowly but we were lucky that we arrived just as the Chinese New Year had started and we went straight into four days leave. The first day I saw a Chinese man riding a bike and I wondered how on earth he managed it in the heat. Within three months we were in Labuan Borneo working in even hotter conditions and loving every minute of it.
Labuan is a small Island off the coast of North Borneo. Where we worked hard and played hard. I only have to drink a Tiger beer to bring back sharp memories of beach parties with beer cooling in a hay box buried in the sands of Surrender point. Surrender beach was where the Japanese formally surrendered at the end of WW2. The war was still fresh in the memories of the local people at that time.
We had a nice little detachment at a place called China rock on the east coast of Malaya.We slept at night in a tent which was a haven for snakes and all sorts of creepy crawlies. Meals and NAFFI facilities were all in a bungalow owned by the local Bauxite Mine. The RAF Signals and observers were on more or les permanent detachment and always appeared to be a little put out to be sharing the bungalows facillities with rough old Squaddies.
The sea around China rock was stained red from the dust that fell into the sea as the mine's barges were loaded at the end of the jetty.
The best thing about this detachment was every weekend we were changed over and taken back to Singapore in a Belvidere Helicopter.
Then, one weekend, we were waiting to go back when we got a radio message saying we were to stay on emergency rations for a week. We found out later that a Belvidere serving the Royal Family had cracked in the middle and all of them were grounded. From then on we were picked up from a local jetty by one of the RAF gun boats on change over.
Another highlight was our two weeks in the Jungle with our leader Clive Lee. I wouldn't have missed that for the world and its an experience I will always remember. We wadded through muddy slow flowing streams and swamps, we climbed up never ending hills, walked through a large ants nest and paid for it with large red bite marks. We had leeches sticking to all parts of our bodies and used cigarettes to get them off. One of the highlights was an air drop with rations where we got tins of fags that were so dry that when we smoked them they burnt like a fuse and were gone in two drags. The ration packs had the year 1942 on them which meant they were at least 25 years old. They were still good rations for all that.It was hard work and by the end of it we stank to high heaven but I for one loved it.
I met and married my wife in Singapore and at the time of writing we have been together for over 40 years. We have 3 children and 3 grand children. After coming back to England it was another 12 years before my wife saw her family again but we have been back many times since.
When we returned to England most of us Pads were stuck in temporary accommodation in Huntingdon which is about 20 miles from Waterbeach. We travelled daily either in the back of a 4 ton truck or by army bus. Eventually we got new quarters in Capper Rd next to the camp.
From Waterbeach I did Detachments to Libya, Malawi, Canada and N I. I hope to post a few more pictures of these places but it is quite a chore getting them re sized to fit the constraints of the web site