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Suez Canal Zone. in 1954
written by John Williams
 Are there any ex Canal Zoners who remember the Royal Engineers, Inland Water transport Squadron.[IWT] I was in the RAF at Kabrit when I was sent on detachment to Port Said to a unit I had never heard of.It proved to be the best posting of my three years service. IWT was a squadron of small tank landing craft[Z craft] and we were to service and repair them.There were two other airmen besides myself and a number of RE sappers. After a month or so in the RE workshop on the quayside near the Canal Company Building we were sent to the Sea Mechanist a Z Craft that had been turned into a floating workshop by covering the open deck and installing the usual workshop equipment,lathes ,drilling machines, shapers, welding equipment etc. Once aboard we sailed her down the canal to the Great Bitter Lake and moored up at Fanara Wharfe.We all slept aboard as there was ample space for the dozen or so of us.We ate our meals at a messroom/cookhouse on the quay. We had very few facilities on the quayside but we didn`t care as we enjoyed the lifestyle we were becoming used to.If we felt like a cool dip we just jumped over the side. Needless to say we spent most of our time splashing about in the lake. As far as we airmen were concerned this was a carefree time as we had no guard duties,no parades no bull of any sort.We were completely free of all the regimentation that goes with being on some of the bigger camps. If we needed anything, RAF Fanara was a few hundred yards down the road so we used the facilities on offer there,without being tied to the RAF proper. In October of 54 the treaty for the withdrawal of British troops was declared and a lot of the troubles died down. So much so that a group of us borrowed a service vehicle and drove to Cairo and spent Xmas Day 54 seeing the sights of Cairo, The Pyramids,the Museum,and as much of the touristy places of Cairo as we could in a single day. If we had been in a normal RAF camp that wouldn`t have happened. However around February 55 an RAF officer came to visit and told the three erks that they were being sent back to a regular camp and our days of living it up were over.I dont remember where the other two were sent but I know my own posting left a lot to be desired. |
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