Great Rift Valley...

petermcleland · Post by **petermcleland** » 05 Jul 2006, 15:06

When I was based in Kenya, my favourite flying area was down in the Rift Valley...I used to take-off from Eastleigh and make straight for the Ngong hills. Then drop down following the valley floor and explore.

One day I took my camera...I never looked through the viewfinder as it would have been dangerous at low level...I just plonked it somewhere up on the rubber cushion on the face of the gunsight and clicked the button when the scenery suited.

Sometimes there are bits of gunsight showing and even the odd glimpse of the "Gyro Pipper", but no matter. The shots capture for me some of the delights of flying in that region.

We made a little practice range over in there and set up a ten foot square air to ground target so that we could practice our sighting. We were never allowed to fly armed in Kenya and to really shoot, we would go up to Aden, Sharjah or Bahrain or even down South to Rhodesia.

Our little practice target was maintained by a local Masai Chief and we gave him a 208 Squadron tie!! When we re-equipped with Hunters, we paraded them for him and his warriors at Nairobi's Embakazi Airport...A few pics of that later

Filonian · Post by **Filonian** » 06 Jul 2006, 07:25

Truly amazing pictures Peter.

Many thanks for sharung.

Graham

airboatr · Post by **airboatr** » 06 Jul 2006, 07:44

When I see views like that Peter
it only solidifies my belief
>

Man Was Meant to Fly
he needed a little help, is all........

jonesey2k · Post by **jonesey2k** » 06 Jul 2006, 07:52

Wow! Nice pcs! Makes me want to join the AF instead of the Army lol!

Nigel H-J · Post by **Nigel H-J** » 06 Jul 2006, 13:45

Peter,
those photos are brilliant......the scenery breathtaking............I wouldn't mind betting there are a lot who would have given anything to have been in your shoes, including me!! :dance:

petermcleland · Post by **petermcleland** » 06 Jul 2006, 18:56

Thanks for the comments chaps and thanks to Nikon enabling me to bring these 50 year old slides back into circulation

petermcleland · Post by **petermcleland** » 06 Jul 2006, 20:40

I've rebalanced the colours on this set as well now...You might like to look again.

Moses03 · Post by **Moses03** » 06 Jul 2006, 22:02

Wow Peter, amazing shots! Thanks for posting.

Moses

petermcleland · Post by **petermcleland** » 06 Jul 2006, 23:53

Just a small note on location here...The second and fourth pictures down are of the Lake Magadi area...You can see that there is a solid Soda part of the lake which is White and a liquid portion which is blue with a small island in it. In the second picture I'm over the white solid Soda part but the tinted Gunsight glass is making it look a bit dark. In the fourth picture, I'm heading in the opposite direction approaching the liquid portion. The small island in the liquid portion is visble in both shots and this may help to orientate you.

In the third picture you can see several huge Termite nests...They are red upstanding pillars of murram and they stand in a red circular patch.

In the sixth picture, you can see a circular Masai Boma to the left of the bend in the track in the foreground about centre...Also several Termite nests...One large one in the shade of the thorn tree in the left bottom corner of the picture.

In the eighth picture there are more dwellings in that complex in the left foreground...I think also that there are a lot of Masai cattle in that picture, mostly brown or dark coloured but some white.

I hope my comments here will encourage you to look closer at the shots to see what you can discover LOL!

migeater0 · Post by **migeater0** » 07 Jul 2006, 00:20

My gf's grandfather was an armourer in Aden. Dave Murry. Many brilliant stories I've heard from him, good chap. Ring any bells?