R E JOURNAL 1950'S

Discussion in 'Postwar' started by Bobpike, Jun 23, 2020.

  1. Bobpike

    Bobpike Member

    Can anyone please help my friend?


    Her father was with the Royal Engineers, he was one of a group who flew into the Maldives (the island of Gan) to bomb the first air-strip (late 1950s). They flew in a flying boat with the explosives in the bottom of the plane and them sitting on top! When he came out of the Army he went to work for Ron Cane in Wendens Ambo, near Saffron Walden, Essex.

    One of his first jobs was to do some work at a hous in Audley End village and it turned out the house owner was the officer who had commissioned him and the others to go on the Maldives trip! This officer said that it was all written up in the RE Journal and he would let her father have a copy. This never came to pass for various reasons.


    She is desperate to get a copy of the RE Journal or at least find an index referenceto the article.

    Also se is on the trail of any other contemporary REs in the area.

    She visited Chatham the year before last but their museum has been closed for a long time for renovation and of course is still closed now. #


    Thank you
     
  2. gmyles

    gmyles Senior Member

  3. JimHerriot

    JimHerriot Ready for Anything

    Dear Bobpike,

    Your friend may well like to have a look at the photographs and write-up relating to Gan and the re-construction of the airfield in the late 1950s here (link below).

    Please note that the thread is very much RAF related, but the photographs of the time are a wonderful resource and will very much give your friend an insight into the conditions her father was working in (note that the contributor of said photos there, username "warmtoast", has eleven parts within the thread, interspersed with posts from other users of the forum, and hence the page and photos can take a while to "load up").

    I very much hope that you and your friend will be pleased with the photos of the Sunderland.

    Here's the link:

    RAF Gan 1958 and Later - PPRuNe Forums

    Kind regards, always,

    Jim.
     
  4. JimHerriot

    JimHerriot Ready for Anything

    Hello Bobpike,

    Hopefully the extracts below (from pages 104 and 105 of "From Port to RAF Gan", by Peter Doling, published 2004) may help narrow the dates down for your friend in searching the RE journals via the excellent link that Gus (gmyles) provided above.

    Note that the "Sunderland runway area" referred to in the extracts below was the chosen stretch of water within the lagoon from which coral had to be cleared to provide the flying boat with stretch of water safe for landing, and the March dates referred to are from 1957.

    Good luck with the search.

    Kind regards, always,

    Jim.

    GAN 1957 1.jpg

    GAN 1957 2.jpg
     

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