| Name | Comments |
Charlie Haywood
 chas_haywood03@yahoo.co.uk | 29-03-2008 - 20:12 - from host-84-9-168-194.dslgb.com
Hi
Excelent - was on SASF 69 - 70 Air Elect. would love to visit but no longer rich . If won the lottery might take up long term residence. |
ray stewart (stew)
vulcan157@hotmail.com
 http://vulcan157@tiscali.co.uk | 02-10-2007 - 23:11 - from 212-139-70-204.dynamic.dsl.as9105.com
was on gan,sasf as a rigger,1965-66; anyone remember me/ put tractor on the reef ,other side of island on civvy/pakisani camp side, got 1 weeks "jankers" in mt section, chris perkins accomplice? |
Hugh Thomas
h.thomas300@btinternet.com | 13-09-2007 - 23:28 - from host86-140-240-22.range86-140.btcentralplus.com
Andy sorry we lost touch. My old e-mail went T... Up! Just to update you I am still serving now at Brize Norton. Very old ALM just signed on for an extra year to 56! Hope all well with you Rgds Hugh |
Williaml Burns
bilburns1954@yahoo.co.uk | 22-07-2007 - 20:20 - from 90-10-124-91.pool.ukrtel.net
Sending best wishes to everybody. Lots of familiar names on the Gan websites! At the moment I'm in the Ukraine hoping to interest them in Science Communication, British style though NESTA FameLab independently. All of the best! Bill
P.S. ex-SAC 'C' Watch Terminal Commcen [Flt Watch]
'Siggie'!! |
Andy Knowles
a.knowles8@ntlworld.com | 19-04-2007 - 08:13 - from spc1-pete3-0-0-cust901.asfd.broadband.ntl.com
Tony,
Thanks for the excellent report and I'm glad you had a great time on Gan. It's changed alot since our days out there, but most places are still recognisable, and some are still in use. I understand that the factories have now gone, which make it a bit quieter I guess, but you don't get to see all the Sri Lankan ladies enjoying a Sunday afternoon stroll! |
Andy Knowles
a.knowles8@ntlworld.com | 19-04-2007 - 08:01 - from spc1-pete3-0-0-cust901.asfd.broadband.ntl.com
Thanks all for signing the guest book.
Tony, I haven't replied 'cos I changed my computer and lost everything!!! It's okay now though. |
Tony Sirrell
Gannitekos@aol.com
http://110499.aceboard.net/index.php?login=110499 | 05-04-2007 - 21:49 - from cache-los-ae04.proxy.aol.com
Andy, why do you never comment on the entries on your guestbook? It is something that has always bothered me.
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Ray Barber
rayb@rber.name
http://mysite.orange.co.uk/gan-addu | 04-04-2007 - 18:53 - from user-5444506a.lns3-c10.dsl.pol.co.uk
Thanks for your help in getting us there Andy. It was a fantastic holiday. |
John Simlett
johnsimlett@hotmail.com | 04-04-2007 - 18:30 - from user-5447ece1.wfd93.dsl.pol.co.uk
I used to fly in and out of Gan on the old Changi Slip - 1964 to 1976
First on the Comet 4c, then the Belfast and finally the VC10 ... suddenly 30 years ago. Guess it's time to revisit the place. Making plans!
cheers
John |
Tony Sirrell
Gannitekos@aol.com
http://http://110499.aceboard.net/index.php?login=110499 | 02-04-2007 - 23:09 - from cache-los-ae04.proxy.aol.com
Hello chaps,
We Left Luton airport on board the First Choice 767 aircraft heading for Male. Good airline, lots of legroom and the food was very good. Ten hours later we landed in the Maldives. We did not have to look around for our contact there as they found us first. A one hour stopover (quick beer and a look around) and then boarded the Dash8 22 seater aircraft bound for Gan. Overflying all the Islands and atolls on the way down was amazing, hard to describe unless you were actually there. The colours were out of this world, and a beautiful azure sea as I’m sure you all remember. A lot more of the islands were inhabited as we flew over them and they are building a lot more resorts over the next few years.
We landed in Gan an hour and a half later and after a five minute drive arrived at the old sergeants mess which is now a hotel and has been extended etc. so you would never recognise it as the sergeants mess of years ago. We went down to our room, which was a bungalow next to the beach, had a shower and then went out to the pool to cool down.
A few beers later I was laid by the pool and thought I had never been away.
What I had forgotten was the utter peace of the place. The only thing we could hear was the sound of the waves on the shore and the odd chit chat twittering away. Heaven!
Had an early night because we were both utterly knackered and then we were both wide awake at 0300. Still we saw a cracking sunrise to make up for it.
We had breakfast at 0700, anything you wanted (within reason) and then off for a wander around.
First place we went was the MCU jetty as I saw it from the car on the way to the hotel. Nothing has changed, even the MCU hangar was still there with a boat on the slipway that looked as though it had been there forever as it was falling to pieces.
Went up to the Astra cinema, the sign is still on the front of the building. It didn’t look as though it was in use any more as when I looked through the windows on the front doors there was litter in the foyer. There was a photo on a notice board inside the front door, which I think had been taken by Lawrie “Geordie” Dodds when he was out there a few months earlier. How it finished up in there is anybodies guess. He has been out to Gan three times so far.
Couldn't get around to the 6 SU/ATC buildings as it is now part of the airport complex and it was all fenced off and guards on the gate.
The Blue Lagoon transit lounge was still intact although it was stood empty and looked a bit tatty and where the fence was that we all used to lean over drooling over any available female had gone, and there was a building stood in its place. The sea fed swimming pool that was behind the 180 Club was still there, although not in use, and alas, the 180 Club had long gone.
The church is now a mosque with a loudspeaker on the top of it, which used to go off at regular intervals with the Imam calling everyone to prayers every few hours.
We could not get across to the other side of the island, as you could not cross the runway due to guards/barriers etc. So basically, we were restricted to one half of the island, but it did not bother us too much. There was still plenty to see.
The causeway that was in ruins when we were there back in the 70s was now a two lane raised road running across to Fedu. Back in the 70s the water really used to flow fast and deep through the causeway channel as it was on legs, but with the design of the new one it is concrete all the way down to the seabed with narrow openings every so often to let the water through and the water was really shallow.
A couple of days into the holiday I paid one of the locals $25 to use his Honda 90 for the day. No red tape out there lads, no helmets etc. we just rode off with the wind and sun in our faces. We rode across to Fedu and then on up to Hittadu. The old transmitter site that was up there has long gone and a power station built on the site where it used to be. The roads are in excellent condition, all tarmaced and lined. It was like being back in the UK, but without the cold and rain!!
We had a good day out on the bike and took quite a few photographs. When we got back to Gan I dropped Ann off back at the hotel and went for a ride on my own just to have a look for some of the old haunts. I saw one block from the road that looked in quite good condition so drove up the drive to have a look. It was block number 37 according to the number on the end of the building. Just as I went to get my camera out a local male came up to me, he was the owner of the block. We got chatting and he invited me in to the block, which was now his house. Imagine having a whole block for a house, amazing. Where all the shower blocks had been and the laundry section that the room boys used he had converted into bedrooms and other living rooms. I was well impressed. I stayed chatting and looking around for about half an hour or so before I finally took my leave and went on my way.
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