1969 - Shackleton Flight

No exciting photographs today so here's a blast from the past.
A friend of mine, Mike Whitmarsh, sent me this photograph that he has in his collection from when we were together at RAF Masirah, Oman, in 1969. You should recognise me, I haven't changed one iota in the past 47 years.
The reason I'm standing in front of this 201 Squadron Shackleton, maritime SAR and sumbarine hunter, is that it is the aircraft I spent 13 hours in over the Indian Ocean.
The crew came to the communication centre to hand in their 'Confidential Green' form, Soviet Shipping and any other dodgy sightings, and I cheekily asked if there was any chance of a 'Jolly'. Result was I attended a briefing at 0500 the next morning, took off at 0700 and flew half way to the Maldives across the Indian Ocean and did a square search pattern for about 10 hours. We were providing SAR (Search and Rescue) cover for single engine jets on their way out to the far east. I believe it was the Red Arrows on their way to Australia but can't be certain after all this time.
What a fantastic experience it was, and very exciting although 13 hours was a long time when I didn't have a job to keep me occupied. The crew did entertain me, showing me the various workings of the aircraft and I even sent a couple of messages by morse code back to Masirah wireless room.
It was 5 years later when I did a nine hour flight in a Nimrod chasing a French Submarine (on a NATO exercise) in the Med when I was stationed in Malta (Extra photo of 203 squadron Nimrod landing at RAF Luqa, Malta).