CHAPTER 40 DEREK'S STORY Episode 1

DEREK’S STORY

On the first of March, 1956, at the age of 16, I joined the Southern Rhodesian Air Force. I had just signed on for 15 years, (which may as well have been forever to a teenager), on the under-standing  I would be sent to England to train with the Royal Air Force at Number One Technical Training School, RAF Halton. I was to be trained as an instrument-fitter and would be away from home for three years. I’d been to boarding school for the previous eight years so going to England was just another exciting adventure – just a little bit further from home.

At the completion of my training at RAF Halton I returned home to the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and was posted to the Royal Rhodesian Air Force station at New Sarum, just outside the capital Salisbury. Here I was allocated my first task; a major overhaul of a Vampire FB-9 jet fighter.   When I completed this particular job (the aircraft actually flew without any problems, despite my expertise), I was offered a temporary posting to Number Five Squadron (Canberra Jet Bombers). If I agreed I would be sent on a detachment to Cyprus.

It may appear strange that I was given the opportunity to actually choose to go to Cyprus or to stay at home. However, in those days there was a terrorist war going on in Cyprus and we had to be volunteers just in case we were shot at. Of course, as far as I was concerned it was a silly question to put to a 19 year old, just itching to get involved in a battle, and, if it happened to be in Cyprus, so much the better.

At this time, we, (Rhodesia) were still friends with everybody, and the Royal Rhodesian Air Force was part of the British Commonwealth Defence Pact. We flew all the way up Africa via Entebbe, where our DC-4M Canadair aircraft broke down and we spent the next five days waiting for the spare parts. They put us up in a magnificent hotel on the shores of Lake Victoria and while we waited for the parts to arrive, we were given the opportunity to visit the source of the Nile at Jinja where we also had a tour of the local beer brewery. What a life!

After the repairs we proceeded to Cyprus via Khartoum. Here we saw the junction of the Blue and White Nile, and El Adam, RAF base outside Tobruk in the Libyan Desert. During our tour in Cyprus we astounded the RAF by keeping all eight of our Canberra Bombers flying every day. When independence was granted to Cyprus, 12 Canberra Bombers flew over the parade, eight of these were Royal Rhodesian Air Force aircraft.

 In the RRAF our work ethic was that the work only stopped when all the aircraft were serviceable. It did not matter which trade you were, if a job needed doing you just did it. Later, this ‘Rhodesian’ trait would come to serve us well – during our war sanctions were applied and we all had to become multi-skilled. As an instrument fitter I helped the airframe fitters change the main under-carriage and the armourers to bomb up the Canberras.  We had a wonderful time in Cyprus; the booze was cheap, (a bottle of brandy cost 20 cents), and the sea was warm and beautifully clear.

 Having completed our detachment, we flew back to Rhodesia via El Adem, where, once again, the DC-4M decided to have an exhaust failure on take-off. We spent the next five days in El Adam awaiting spares, which could only be sourced from Benghazi. My suitcase had been filled with various types of liquor obtained in Cyprus, and when it was unloaded from the aircraft I was told by the skipper to “drink it, or get rid of it.” Needless to say, for the next five days, we did not feel too much pain, stuck in the middle of the Sahara desert with very little water but a lot of spare time and an awful lot of booze.

This photograph shows 3 Squadron Royal Rhodesian Air Force 1960 and shows all the pilots in the two front rows with the technical staff standing at the back. Derek de Kock looking very smart is 4 from the left in the first standing row. At the time I was an instrument fitter and maintained DC3(Dakota), DC4M(Canadair) and Percival Pembroke aircraft. At times it was busy but I was getting bored and contemplated applying for pilot training, but the opportunity to become a PJI  occurred and I followed that path.

 On both the occasions when the DC4M aircraft broke down on this detachment, it happened during take-off and was caused by an exhaust failure. The DC4M Canadair was powered by 4 Merlin Engines, the same engines that powered the Spitfire. We used to call these aircraft ‘four Spitfires flying in close formation’. In order to keep passengers calm when observing these mighty engines in operation, especially at night, the inboard exhaust stubs were diverted to the outboard side by a cross over exhaust system. The idea was to hide the red hot exhaust stubs on the inboard side from nervous passengers – a great idea in theory.

This photograph of a Royal Rhodesian Air Force DC4M shows its beautiful lines which are enhanced by the V12 Merlin engines, the same engines which powered the famous Spitfire fighter of WW2. It was the largest aircraft in the Royal Rhodesian Air Force, and if we had kept them after the Federal break up, we would have found a way to parachute from them. What a thought! 

 When the exhaust system failed on my trip to Cyprus, it was on the inboard engine on the side I was seated. Each time it happened just as the aircraft was reaching take-off speed.  Suddenly, before my eyes, the whole engine began to glow red hot, the take-off was abandoned, and with great skill the skipper managed to stop before we ran out of runway. However I was now convinced that the DC4Ms of The Royal Rhodesian Air Force were trying to do me personal harm.

The next time one of these aircraft gave me a fright was on my way to do the PJI course at RAF, Abingdon. Again we flew up the middle of Africa with refuelling stops at Entebbe and Khartoum, then across the mighty Sahara to Malta. This time there was a normal take-off from Khartoum, I breathed a sigh of relief and settled in for a very long leg across the sandy waste below. Too soon.

We had a few Army Officers on board who were also attending various courses in the UK. One was sitting in the Captain’s seat whilst the skipper stretched his legs. Suddenly there as a deathly hush as all four engines stopped. At once. The Skipper grabbed the Army Officer by the collar, hauled him out of his seat, then plonked himself into it.  With a flurry of hands, pulling and pushing various switches and levers, the more normal noise returned as the four Merlins powered up again. Apparently all four engines had been running off the same tank to give us the necessary fuel to make it to Malta with a reserve.We made it to Malta without further excitement. However during the great silence Bill Maitland was heard to say in a loud stage whisper “Grab the Navigator, he’s the only bugger who knows where we are.” PTS humour right from the beginning.

 The next day, we were headed toward London, when the French suddenly decided not to allow a Royal Rhodesian Air Force Aircraft to overfly their air space. We had to dump fuel and land back at Malta. After a further delay we finally made it to the UK but by now I was absolutely convinced the DC4M did not like me. Whenever I flew in one after that, I always had a parachute handy. We never jumped from these Aircraft and in retrospect it could have been an interesting experiment.