Page 119 - Demo

119Beavers, supplemented by Caribou and eventually Vickers Viscounts. With the Jebel Akhdar insurrection resolved, the Northern part of the Country was relatively peaceful, with infrastructure and industry being developed but this served only to fuel further the discontent in the south where the Jebali considered themselves ignored and neglected. Salalah was the main town and to ensure the regular supply of support to the garrison the airfield was developed and, under the command of the RAF, became a key installation for the conduct of operations against the rebels. In August 1970, by which time it had embraced the jet age, the force was renamed to become the Sultan of Oman%u2019s Air Force (SOAF). Its assets were split between Bait al Falaj, near the capital, Muscat, in the north of the country and at RAF Salalah in Dhofar in the south. SOAF consisted of four squadrons: No 1 Sqn had approximately sixteen BAC Strikemasters and four DH Canada Beavers; No 2 Sqn had ten Short Skyvans and two DH Canada Caribou; No 3 Sqn had fourteen Agusta8Bell 205s and 206s, and No 4 Sqn had three Vickers Viscounts, which spent most of their time shuttling between Salalah and Muscat. The Dhofar Campaign, as the rebellion in the southern region of the Oman became known, ground on for a further five years or more %u2013 and for a fuller eyewitness description I would refer you to the following presentation by Denis Grey. Suffice to say here that, after a sustained effort by the ground forces, supported by an equally A SOAF Provost T.52 armed with 3?inch RPs. (Richard Grevatte8Ball)