 The following occured during my R.A.F.service at M.C.U. Fanara on the Great Bitter Lake in the suez canal zone between 49/51 , it concerns an incident between a Russian freighter and an R.A.F. seaplane tender in which I was one of the crew , although by trade I was an aircraft fitter, due to a shortage of marine fitters at that time I was acting in that capacity .During the "cold war" a trade was being carried on between the Soviets and China via the Suez Canal , and our government was interested in obtaining as much info'as possible into the types of vessel and its cargo the soviets were sending thro' the Suez Canal to the East , to ensure no strategic materials were involved . The H.Q. M.E.A.F. requested that M.C.U. Fanara based on the Great Bitter Lake half way down the Suez Canal provide a fast launch to intercept these vessels and take photographs with an aircraft type camera which they would supply , we stripped down one of our sea plane tenders ( ST 1560 )to increase its speed and installed the large camera which I was to operate in the absence of any other volunteer . It was not long before we were advised by H.Q. that a Russian freighter was on its way down the canal carrying a strange structure on the after deck which H.Q.wanted urgently to have photos of so they could identify what it was . As soon as the vessel entered the north end of the Great Bitter Lake we manned the launch (a Cpl Coxswain , one deckhand , and myself) and took off at high speed with the R.A.F. ensign flying and chased the freighter which had put on speed as it steamed down the 13 mile long lake ,I asked the coxswain to do a fast run across the vessels stern so that I could get a good photo of the structure which was clearly visible from that angle . As I pocked the camera out of the wheelhouse window , I noticed some Russian crewmen shaking their fists at us , and just as I pulled the camera trigger to get the shot there was a very loud rat-tat -tat from the vessel , the coxswain threw himself on the wheelhouse floor shouting "get down the ------- are machine gunning us" , the launch went into a high speed zig-zag and the camera almost went out of the window , but not before I'd got a good shot of the structure . We could'nt see any damage so we shot off to base and handed over the camera to the H.Q. bod who was on the jetty waiting for it, the base was in a bit of turmoil untill a frantic phone call to H.Q. photo section told us " yes it was a great photo , the structure on the after deck appears to be a harbour tug being constructed on the freighter and would you believe you can clearly see a bloke with a pnuematic riveting gun working on the tug ".
So much for all the panic ! I wonder if any of the ex M.C.U. Fanara bods are still around who may remember this ?
I experienced quite a few "funny" moments while in the Marine Craft service or maybe I've just got a warped sense of humour , if you want a bit of a laugh just get drop me an e-mail.
Ex 2279216 Cpl Alec Williams | 
