Rhodesian Air Force - Territorials 1973

I have also scanned some historical pics from my album that may be of interest to others so have decided to post them here to make them available.

I've uploaded fairly large pics so that the faces are as clear as possible. So please be patient while they load.

I, like all other youngsters in the then Rhodesia, I was conscripted into the forces for a year or two. I served my time in the security section of the Rhodesian Airforce.

These pics were taken in 1973.
I'm not sure what the intake number of the April/May 1973 intake was. Perhaps if any of the ORAFS in that particular intake can let me know I'd much appreciate it. (Rob Posselt, now living in the UK, married to an Umtali girl in 1979 and now having two daughters aged 22 and 19, e-mailed me in late 2007 and let me know we were 81TF April '72 to April '73 - thanks Rob). You can use the e-mail address below to e-mail me. dennislaidler (at) gmail.com

New Sarum Airbase, Salisbury (now Harare), May 1973



The names below are taken from a sheet of paper I had put under the picture in my album. Please leave a comment and correct any miss-spellings and/or add any of the missing names. These names (all left to right) bring back many memories for me, both good and bad.

Armoured vehicle left, turret:
Tim Coglahn, Mike Weeden, Dave Ballantyne
Armoured vehicle left, driver:
Rob Lieberman
Armoured vehicle left, standing:
Sergent Hill, Dave Jackman

Row 5 (Back Row):
Harry Fowle, Doug Hasson, Marshal Page, Brian Lansden, Pete Dyer, Ed Ely, Mike Kriel, Keith Tozer (slightly behind), Ivor Shwerin
Row 4:
Jan Labuchagne, Barry Garner, Julian Hilton-Barber, WO Ken Salter, Neil McMullen, Sergent Cox, Rob Posselt
Row 3:
Dale Wilcox, Nevil Barnard, Dave Stewart, Angel Mylie, Chris Vos, Ralf Cheesman, George Makings, Kevin Doyle, Trevor Wetmore, Dennis Laidler (myself)
Row 2:
Rob Ovington, Andrew Strange, Howard Parker, Pete Bull, Vince Lamprecht, Paul McCarthur
Row 1 (Front Row):
Tim Harding, Danny McDonald, Bill Britton, Tex Mckenzie, Chris Talbot, Jeff Long

Armoured vehicle right, turret:
Paddy Clift, Pete McDonald, Chris Roberts
Armoured vehicle right, driver:
Richard Tudor-Owen
Armoured vehicle right, standing:
Leon Roussow, Flight Sergent Webster

Here is another picture of the same group taken at the same time.



After the first few weeks of basic training we were allowed an extended weekend off to visit our families. However we were all given some challanges for the weekend. The group that I was in had to arrange a picture of themselves in front of the RAF headquarter's sign at the Gwelo Airforce base.

We had the picture below taken the first evening by a friend of mine, Andrew Nel, the younger brother of Michael Nel who was in kindergarten in Rusape with me. One of the group that lived in Gwelo took a photograph of the sign outside Headquarters.



I don't remember how we got the 'Headquarters' negative to Andrew but suffice to say by the time we returned to New Sarum at the end of the long weekend Andrew had performed some 'magic' in his home darkroom and we returned to New Sarum with the picture below to 'prove' that we had all visited the base in Gwelo during the weekend. Remember that this was way before the days of modern ICT and cell phones! How the hell did we manage?



Irrespective that someone was really not that good with the scissors our 'initiative' satisfied our commanders.

Those in the picture are:
Harry Foule, Chris Talbot, Chris Roberts, Dave Ballantyne, Dennis Laidler,
Chris Vos, Howard Parker, Ed Ely, Pete Bull and Dale Wilcox

The pictures below were taken in December 1973 at the Forward Air Field (FAF) at Wankie near Victoria Falls



Those in the vehicle, a so called Eland 60, are Pete McDonald (gunner, left), yours truly Dennis Laidler (commander, right), and Chris Roberts (driver)

The picture below was taken on the same day at the same time.



Those in this picture are:

Armoured vehicle left, turret:
Danny McDonald, myself Dennis Laidler
Armoured vehicle left, just below:
Howard Parker, Rob Posselt, Al Platt
Standing:
Pete Bull, Tim Coghlan, Julian Hilton-Barber, Chris Vos, Chris Talbot, Chris Roberts, Dale Wilcox, Kevin Doyle
Armoured vehicle right, sitting:
Pete McDonald

Most of those in the picture signed it on the reverse side for me.

Just out of interest I never got to see any real action. I spent most of my time at forward air fields in a deterrent capacity and also driving up and down the local runway early in the morning to ensure that it was free of landmines before it was used by aircraft. Fun!

I encourage any of the ORAFS in these pictures to please leave a comment, telling us where they are (or others in the picture), what they're doing and perhaps their contact details. Also feel free to e-mail me and let me know your news. I lead a pretty hectic life but will respond when I have a chance and I'd enjoy hearing from you.

See also my blog post with pictures of the Air Force Air Cadets Camp at New Sarum, Salisbury (Harare) in August 1967