There was a lot….

Watching this film, I was reminded of a pals tales of the scrapping of Mosquitos in Palestine at the end of the war. A large number of brand-new Mossies had been flown-out there. Unfortunately, they had been left in direct sunlight for a long time, and the skins had warped/deteriorated badly, so they had been condemned. An RAF team was sent to the strip with a bulldozer to destroy them, with specific orders to take sledgehammers to smash the blocks of the engines. Directly I’d watched the film, he happened to ring me…spooky.

I’m also reminded of other stories of long lines of RAF a/c left in Egypt and Palestine at the end of the war, their crews having long been sent home. There were many many Wellingtons & Warwicks just left to rot.

Separately, I knew a chap that had been heavily involved in the clean-up in the desert conflict areas. a/c, tanks, MT etc. He always maintained that they’d been very thorough, but in any case, Arabs being Arabs, anything left usually got used/collected for scrap/salvage. Anything not guarded, up to and including MT, got pilferred.

It all seems a crying shame to us now, but in truth, they had a/c coming out of their ears after the war. There really was an awful lot…!