Dear  Fellow Noddys,
 
It is with great sadness that I have to report the passing of two more of our old friends from 103MU.
Last week Julie, the daughter of Howard Cload from Swansea telephoned to say that Howard had passed away.
Julie is ex WRAF herself and said that their local RAFA and British Legion are attending the funeral in South Wales.
I have sent a card on behalf of 103MU and expressed deep condolances on behalf of all 103MU "Noddys".
Over the times that I put together "Noddys Notes" I was able to include many of Howards photos including the
Aboukir Floods and the VE Day Abuklarian.
 
Ever since Daphne was diagnosed with cancer, Ken Sayers  has been a regular caller to enquire how she was doing
with her chemo and times in hospital. Ken also stepped into the breech  and got together our small Reunion at Solihull
last year which at the very last minute we were both able to attend  and which Daphne so enjoyed.
A few weeks ago Ken again telephoned to ask after Daphne, and then dropped to bombshell that he had also been
diagnosed with cancer and that it was at an advanced stage of no cure or treatment. Daphne was particularly upset as
she had sat with him at dinner last year and talked about the Macmillan nurses who look after her. Ken in turn was one of
the charities unsung heroes of major fund raisers.
Ken was one of the founder members of the RAF Aboukir/103MU  Reunion and also held the chair and organised the annual
reunions for many years till he handed the reigns to me. I think he actually attended every Reunion held.
 
Kens Funeral is at Leatherhead, Surrey on Thursday 21st of April at 1015hrs. If there is anyone in the South who could
attend and represent 103MU I would be very grateful. Unfortunately Daphne is in the middle of another chemo cycle and
I won't be able to attend , plus the time and distance involved with the M25 in between. If anyone can attend could they
please let me know so that I can let Kens family know. I will be sending a card on behalf of all 103MU.
 
Kind regards all.
 
Richard Harcourt
 
 
 
 

Richard,

Do you still have dealings with the reunion in Solihull for 103 MU Aboukir group ?

If so could you let me know as I have some details for you.

Await your reply

Regards

Gerry McManus
 
Thanks for the quick response Richard and I am sorry to hear your sad news about your wife.

I am the son-in-law of Ken Sayers and I was contacting the group to unfortunately let you know the sad news that Ken passed away last Thursday 7th April. As you stated he was diagnosed back in Feb with kidney/lung cancer, he then want taken into hospital with an ulcer on his foot, which in turn was complicated with his gout. He was discharged last Tuesday, but died of a heart attack last Thursday (luckily the nurse dressing his foot was at hand and called the paramedics straight away, unfortunately they could not resussitate him and he died at hospital)

I was going thru his address book ,which is just names to let people know of his passing but as you can appreciate, the names were not associated with any organisations , as he had a large network of police and mcmillan cancer friends to go with 103 MU colleagues, so I contacted you to let you all know of his passing and whether you could pass on the details and if so if you have a list of names that  I can put against names in his address book that I can contact or possibly you maybe able to by email if poss ?

His funeral will be held at Leatherhead Crem on Thur 21st April at 10:15 if anyone wishes to know and Im trying to organise a flag for the coffin, with possibly a trumpeter to play the last post for him.

Again thank you for the response

Regards

Gerry McManus 

 

I have scanned in a couple of 103 MU section Photo’s that may be of interest for your archives. I am not completely sure if I have dated them correctly they may be the other way round. I am not sure of any of their names either, It was along time ago!

I was at Akrotiri from 66 to 69 baring a holiday in Ndola Zambia, when I arrived in the July and was sent to 29 squadron Javelins.

I was then passed on to 56 squadron Lightning’s before I went to the MU. I have some slides of 29 squadron but they are not good enough to scan.

I now live in Paphos and could show the archivist at Akrotiri what I have and he can decide if they are of any use.

Regards Bob Pearce 

1968

1969
Hi All,
Please find attached latest "Noddys Notes" including details of this years Reunion.
Please find also a questionaire which would be helpful if you would complete and email back.
Just the answers in an email will do, then I can collate them. Because of the increasing costs  of postage, this latest Newsletter was only five pages, yet only just got through the test slot at the Post Office, I will write to those that do not reply and confirm that they still wish to receive the Newsletter. Emails are not the same of course but I am still getting  some returned as undeliverable because the recipient has not let me know he has changed  his email address. Once that is lost I have no way of contacting members as I often do
not have a full mail address.

So please remember to let me know if your address, mail or email, changes.

Regards

Richard
Thanks to a recent visit to RAF Akrotiri by Richard (Dick) Harcourt of 103Maintenance Unit Royal Air Force Reunion Group, we are now able to bring more information about 103 MU. We have had lots of mail in the past asking for information of the MU, unfortunately the Station records were very thin, now thanks to Richard and members of the Reunion Group we can show begin to shed some light on a major part of the Stations History.

Richard produces a news letter in PDF format for members of the Reunion Group, if you are interested in finding out more about 103 MUs members and its history Email Richard here.

The Station Museum was presented with a CD Full of pictures concerning Various aspects of 103s activities at work and during sport, social and leisure time, These CDs can be obtained from Richard, they contain far more than we have on this website due to limited allocation of web-space. A book by Wng Cdr Ron Bowers, entitled "Seeing Life From A New Angle" was also presented to the Museum. Read an Extract

So here goes for all you 103 Noddys, some of the pictures included in the site will have mouse-over descriptions and some will not. Any information or pictures should be in the first instance be directed to the Reunion Group.

 

Some of you will no doubt be wondering what the significance of “Noddy” is??


To quote Wing Commander Ron Bowers our Officer Commanding from 1972 to the Unit closure in 1975;
“103 MU had been christened ‘Noddy – land’ by the Akrotiri engineering staff and soon after all 103 MU
personnel were sporting variations of “Noddy” in day glow on their cars, bikes etc. These day glow
“Noddy’s” also appeared on anything that 103 MU came into contact with and became a well recognised
“trademark”. Each section had its own variation; the above being the Electrical and Electronics.
.

Back ground picture shows how 103 had an easy life at Akrotiri, Cpl Don Madge (103 MT Section) driving to work in his staff car.