Chaos in dusty hovel

LAC Andrew Woodman, from No. 2 Airfield Defence Guard, on patrol with Indonesians at the runway.

Photo by SGT Bill Guthrie

LAC Dunane Cumming, of No. 6 Rifle Flight, keeps watch at Comoro.

Photo by SGT Bill Guthrie

A Hercules takes off from Comoro.

Photo by SGT Bill Guthrie

WHEN members of No. 381 Expeditionary Combat Support Squadron landed at Comoro on September 20 at the start of the deployment to East Timor, the scene was one of chaos.

Indonesian aircrew, lying and watching with obvious unconcern, gave a bizarre, unreal, feel to proceedings.

The cluster of satellite dishes, presumably for the use of 50 international press correspondents, arrayed nearby, and the troops calmly brewing tea against the backdrop of furious fires burning to the east of the airfield, emitting clouds of dark foreboding smoke, added to the theatricality.

About 1600 hours, the militia in the village adjacent to the airfield fired a volley of shots into the air – a practice in vogue for the next two days, and more a sign of bravado than serious intent.

In September 1999 Comoro was a hot, dirty, dusty hovel; a pit of bull dust perpetually agitated by the prop wash from “operational stop” military aircraft.

Dust invaded everyone’s eyes, nose and throat, mixed with perspiration to cake skin and clothing and permeated their sleeping accommodation. Temperatures that hovered in the high 30ºC range combined with high humidity to make labour enervating.

On the tarmac, conditions were worse. Temperatures were more than 50ºC – the combination of engine exhaust, direct sunlight and radiated heat from the tarmac.

The need to continue wearing Kevlar and carry one’s weapon added to the discomfort of the air load teams and the aircraft security guards.

Rifle barrels and aircraft metal became too hot to touch. There was always noise, always heat, always toil. Conditions were not improved by the lack of water.

The requirement for water had been originally planned at a consumption of 15 litres a person a day whereas the actual consumption was 10 litres more.

Seven air traffic controllers kept Comoro and Baucau open in daylight. Squadron Leader Dave Shepherd reported: “The weather at Baucau would rival East Sale on a bad day, with the cloud at ground level, patches of heavy rain and visibility down to about 50 metres.

With an inordinate amount of skill and good fortune, the Ethiopian B767 always seemed to remain ‘visual’ and find the runway.

I wish that we had some footage of the approaches, as I am sure [our pilots] in Australia could learn a thing or two about maximum ‘G force’ turns at low level.”

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