Airwork Ltd Aden post UK withdrawal
Looking for Information: Peter Balkwill, Airwork Ltd, Aden 1967-68
I am looking for information about Peter John Balkwill, b. 1926, Hatherleigh, Devon and would particularly appreciate making contact with anyone who knew him in Aden from 1967 onward.
Peter Balkwill trained as an aircraft fitter then carried out his national service in the RAF at Camp Fayed, Egypt in late ’40s. He worked crop-spraying with Aerial Spraying Contractors Ltd (later Fisons) in the Sudan. From 1961 he worked as ground crew for Sudan Airways (poss. through Airwork Ltd) for 6 years.
He arrived in Aden early 1967 working for Airwork Ltd. Unusually, he stayed on after Independence, with his family joining him in January 1968.
The basic task (for Airwork Ltd) was to run the tool sheds for the newly formed South Yemen Air Force, based at the former RAF Khormaksar.
The family lived in former RAF housing on the airfield perimeter: first at Dhobi Lines flats, then in the WhiteCity housing.
Peter Balkwill’s ultimate boss was a man named Eric French, with whom he was very friendly (he was much older, so must be long dead). Other names recalled by the family are: ‘Mac, Black Mac, Jack Kennedy, Vic Wright, Tom Cullen, ? Dungate, Ernie Whitmarsh, George ?, Doug Farrant, Ray Shoebridge, Ricky and Diane ?’. He also had a number of friends in the local community.
Unfortunately, Peter died on 21.12.1969 (in a hit and run accident). He had been due to return home to the UK (the family had returned in Sept 1969) on leave in January 1970, expecting then to be posted to Abu Dhabi with Eric French (above).
He is supposedly buried at Ma’alla Christian Cemetery but his daughter was unable to find his grave there or any record of his grave.
He was a fluent Arabic speaker.
If anyone one out there remembers or knew of Peter Balkwill, please get in touch.
Sign In
