Going through the attic I found this menu card from RAF BASRAH. I picked up two of them in the early ‘00s at a military event at the Maltings in Farnham. My close friend has the other, he now lives in Italy.
We both trained at the Shatt Al Arab hotel near the former location of the airbase on OP TELIC 8 2006 with the engineer boat squadron who were stationed there.
By: Mothminor - 24th December 2024 at 11:29
Indeed AA. No frills on the 1944 version and no printer’s name either.
I gather, in spite of being at war, the day was celebrated well nevertheless.
By: avion ancien - 23rd December 2024 at 21:57
Eight years later, of which five were of war, the menu has become much more utilitarian.
By: Mothminor - 23rd December 2024 at 20:15
At RAF Swingate in 1944 the goose had gone from the Christmas menu and was replaced by turkey and the peas were replaced with sprouts which I’m sure everyone was delighted about. Looks like wartime economies meant you possibly had to bring your own cigarettes!
Menu borrowed from its owner who was there on the day 🙂
By: adrian_gray - 18th December 2024 at 17:57
Good question – but Iraq’s banknotes were all printed in the UK at the time, maybe it was an Empire thing?
By: avion ancien - 18th December 2024 at 17:50
The Adjutants Press Ltd. was situated in Butt Street, Ludgershall. It opened in 1914 and closed in 1989. Planning permission for its demolition (it being in a conservation area) was granted in 1995. The Adjutants Press appears to have been a publisher as well as a printer. I wonder why an Officers’ Mess in the Middle East should decide to order menus from a printer in a small town in Wiltshire?
By: BigVern53 - 18th December 2024 at 16:02
Adjutants Press Ludgershall
By: avion ancien - 18th December 2024 at 13:14
Ah, those were the days. Christmas lunch in Basrah. Menu printed in Ludgershall!
Sadly I can’t read the name of the printer. Something like Soutards Press?
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December 18, 2024 at 8:47 am