More photos of Gan

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The Royal Air Force as seen by John 'Gary' Cooper
More photos of Gan




Gan to Fedhoo causeway as seen in May 1959, the Maldivians used to wade to and from Gan depending upon the state of the tide adjacent to these concrete blocks, today there is a road linking three islands Gan, Fedhoo and Hithadoo. Today (2002) a trip to Gan would cost 'an arm and a leg' to just get there let alone stay there. I was fortunate in having my two week holiday in Gan in 1959 paid for by HM Government, most moaned about the place and couldn't get away quick enough, mind you two and a half years in Singers was considerably better than 12 months on Gan or like I did a later tour of 2 years at El Adem, 'hell on Earth' how those boys in all of those cemetaries there would remember what they paid their lives for........

An LCM beached from the lagoon side of the island looking to the West, a safety swimming area is fenced off this side of the LCM. Taken May 1959.

The RAF Gan post office made out of Kadjan leaves woven in wattle effect, no hula clad birds though! Taken 1959.

Hastings TG580 of 48 squadron that crashed on landing on 03/07/1959 at RAF Gan, this was the Hastings that was carrying Flight Lieutenant Bernie Saunders of the Marine Craft Unit to the island to quell the local Maldivian uprising. Bernie and his crews were instrumental in saving all 20 on board Hastings TG579 that crashed in to the sea on the 1st March 1960. Interesting to note the port undercarriage oleo snapped off and the frame that held #1 engine onto the bulkhead.

John 'Gary' Cooper aged 19, aircraft engine mechanic on detachment to SASF at RAF Gan in May 1959, the building under construction in the background later became the Officers Mess, situated on the North West of Gan.

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