IN THE DESERT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 222, 3 July 1939, Page 6

IN THE DESERT

AN ASHBURTON AIRMAN.

AIR FORCE STATION IN IRAQ.

PILOT-OFFICER E. KNOX’S TRAVELS.

“Sixty miles to the east we have Bagdad. Sixty miles to the west we have two palm trees, and for 200 miles north and south there is just desert. Sheba, another place out here, is just about the same, only it has not got the palm trees.” This is how Pilot-Officer Ewen Knox, of Ashburton, describes, in a letter to his people, the situation of his Air Force squadron at Habbaniya, Iraq. Leaving Ashburton on April 7, 1938, Pilot-Officer Knox went to England for flying training, and exactly one year later he left England for the Near East, and he lias been stationed in the desert since.

From Port Said, where he landed, Pilot-Officer Knox ivent to Ismailia for ten days,, and there he saw scenes that were like paintings, the only thing that spoiled the view in the towns round about being the dirtiness of the streets. “I have not seen a town with streets as clean as those of Ashhurt-on since I left there,” 'he writes. From Ismailia he went to Heliopolis, taking three hours by train, from which he was able to see the Egyptians at work on their farms, using ancient methods that still cling to the wooden plough hauled by bullocks, and doing the planting, weeding and reaping by' hand; “The threshing,” lie states, “is done by placing the harvest on the ground and making oxen, with a sledge attached, walk over it. They then take away the straw and sweep up the grain.”

Ten Thousand Men in Camp.

After four days spent at Heliopolis he flew to Habbaniya. Leaving at 5 o’clock in the morning he arrived at 5 o’clock in the evening, having stopped only twice to refuel. The whole journey was over desert. The writer says that Habbaniya- is like a huge army camp, only it includes Army, Ail* Force and armoured car units, with about 10,000 men at the station.

“I had a vei*y interesting trip yesterday, with two other ’planes, going from here to Bagdad, where we picked up the Earl and Countess- of Athlone and their servants. They • have been over here representing the King and Queen at this big wedding. AVe flew them up to Mosul, where the British Consul was murdered, and from there we flew back home. The other pilots had flown them about before, 'but as I was a new chap the AVing-Commander introduced me to them and we had a good talk about- New Zealand.”

Transport Type ’Planes

Describing the type of ’planes he is flying, Pilot-Officer Knox states that they are AUckers bomber transports, carrying 27 people, each with a kit of lOOlbs, -but they are shortly to he replaced by more up-to-date ’planes, Bristol Bombay s. “For the last week it lias been around the 106 degrees mark,” he writes in regard to the temperatures. “AVe start flying at 6 o’clock in the morning and stop at* 12, unless we are on a trip, and then wo fly all day.” He remarks, too, that oranges, “big, juicy ones,” cost one shilling for 42. Since writing this letter, Pilot-Officer Knox has heen engaged in flying transport ’-planes conveying troops between Bagdad and Heliopolis.