I LITERALLY WAS ‘LOST IN TRANSIT’
As Remembered By Peter W. Mills
I was literally lost in transit. I suppose it all began with my posting to the Zone, where I arrived at RAF Fayid in an Avro York on 12th June 1948 and travelled up the Treaty Road in a Bedford truck to the transit unit at RAF El Hamra, where I stayed for eight days until being posted just across the road at 107 MU Kasfareet.
A short detachment to 109 MU Abyad followed, plus a stay at No. 3 RAF Hospital following a fall from a searchlight tower whilst on guard duty. On the 1st September 1949 I was posted to the Marine Craft Unit at RAF Fanara on a conversion course from Aircraft Carpenter to Boatwright as there was a shortage of the latter - but the course was terminated on the 6th December and I found myself surplus to establishment. So off I went to El Hamra again and after nine days in transit it was off to Fayid and emplaned in a Handley Page Hastings – destination RAF Habbaniya, Iraq and into the transit unit there.
Each morning we had to parade to get our postings and soon all of my comrades were gone, whilst fresh batches came and went, and, at one time the unit was empty except for me! This went on for fifty one days until the 4th February 1950. I even spent my 21st birthday there, all alone and with no money! The staff were sick of the sight of me and each day I was told to get lost and I actually spent every day at the Education Section reading mainly military history and playing classical music records – I even joined the music society! The ‘powers’ managed to fill in some of my evenings as I was put on the guard duty roster and spent some enlightening times patrolling with the RAF Iraq levies.
Finally the great day came and I was greeted with cheers and informed that I was posted to the RAF Staging Post at Mauripur in Pakistan. So off on another Hastings but when I reported at the Station HQ they were non-pleased, weren’t expecting me, had no documentation, had an establishment for one carpenter which was already filled and so I was put into the dreaded transit block to wait for a returning aircraft.
I was there for three weeks and spent my time touring Karachi, hiring a bicycle and riding to the sea and reading. Finally onto another Hastings and back to Habbaniya, where I was told that I was going to RAF Amman in Jordan. So I left the next day in a Vickers Valetta to RAF Mafraq and onto Amman in a Percival Proctor.
I was greeted with “Where have you been? We’ve been looking for you since last December!”. So I really had been Lost in Transit!!
I never did find out what had gone wrong. I got a copy of my documents recently and all it says is El Hamra 6.12.49 and the next entry is Amman 15.12.49 which is when I should have gone there. No mention of Habbaniya nor Mauripur.
I think that the staff at Habbaniya were just anxious to get rid of me and
in desperation sent me to Mauripur – but it did make for an exciting and
adventurous interlude