Someone had to do it!

Here's one for Brackens Dad  :-)

It was a bit of a custom to present people with one of these 'Selangor Pewter' plaques of Addu Atoll when they were leaving to be posted back to the UK.
I have two because when we got married (17 May 1975) I had two weeks before I flew off to the Maldives for a 9 month tour. My new Father in Law had departed a few days after the wedding for the same destination, Royal Air Force Gan. I've inherited my Father in Laws plaque when he passed away in 2004.

Addu Atoll is the most Southerly of the Maldivian atolls and Gan is the most Southerly of the coral islands making up Addu Atoll. As you can see, the runway started at one end of the island and finished at the other end, almost 1 mile long. More than one aircraft has overshot and finished up in the Indian Ocean!

Yes, it was hell. Did a lot of sailing, drinking, walking around the island, playing golf, taking photographs and sometimes I even went to work. I worked in the Communications centre which was below the Air Traffic Tower.
It is unbelievable really that people pay a couple of thousand pounds to go on a weeks holiday and I spent 7 months there and got paid for being in paradise!
I missed a couple of months because the station was closing down, final people left on a ship end of March 1976, while I left in February after closing the communications centre.

While there I also had 3 days in Sri Lanka. Yes, it was hell but someone had to do it.