Page 125 - Demo

125%u0004%u0006fi%u0001%u000c%u0010%u0004%u0005%u0006%u0004%u0009%u0009%u000f%u0010%u0006%u0008%u0006%u000c%u0001%u001a%u0007%u0009%u0006#%u0007%u000b%u0006%u000c%u0004%u0008%u0006%u0007%u0010%u0006%u000b%u0006%u0018%u000b%u0008%u0004%u0001%u0006#%u0004%u0001%u0006#,%u0006%u0009-%%u0006%u0018%u0017/%u0015)%u00063%%u00178Denis (Nobby) Grey joined the RAF in 1964 and subsequently flew the Victor (No 100 Sqn) Jaguar (Nos 54, 17 and 31 Sqns) and Hunter (Chivenor and Brawdy). A Jet Provosts QFI since 1969 (No 1 FTS), between 1971 and 1973 he also flew the Strikemaster and Beaver with the SOAF, logging 300+ operational sorties during the Dhofar War. He left the Service in 1985 to work for BAE Systems as a project and marketing executive; since 2006 he has run a business support consultancy. %u0007/%u0016%%u0013-4&%u0016%u0015%u0013/%u0006 I had heard virtually nothing about Oman and the war in Dhofar until a couple of my flying instructor colleagues were posted there in 1970. A few months later, when my boss at RAF Linton8on8Ouse asked me whether I would be interested in a secondment to the Sultan of Oman%u2019s Air Force flying Strikemasters, I jumped at the chance. On offer was a unique operational tour at a time in the middle of the Cold War when there was no other action available for ground attack pilots. For political reasons, the UK government saw the Dhofar War as a %u2018Secret War%u2019. Although the SAS, seconded British officers from all three Services and ex8officers on contract to the Oman Forces were involved in Oman, and British lives were being lost, very few people in the UK knew about the conflict. Nevertheless, when the Omani victory eventually arrived, some five years later, it had been hard won. Defeat would almost certainly have condemned the Gulf to years of instability and anarchy. In the end, a model counter8insurgency campaign brought about a rare, unambiguous and enduring victory over Communism.1 In retrospect, it could be argued that the campaign fought in Oman had been of potentially greater strategic significance than the concurrent Vietnam War. This paper provides a small snapshot of one secondee%u2019s experiences during the Dhofar War.