Doug (Tex) Robinson

Doug 'Tex' Robinson "I worked on Crown Airfield from January 1965 to July 1965. My rank was J/T (Junior Technician) plant fitter and I was seconded to REME workshops. Most of my time was at the tented service workshop up on the airfield under the command of a New Zealand engineer officer. I recall an uncomfortable and dangerous journey from Ubon to CRE Crown over rickety wooden bridges. Driving the rutted laterite road was like driving over corrugated sheets to arrive coated in a thick red dust".

We were given a 'welcoming' reception by a rather abrasive RSM, I think his name was Howells. Our accomodation was corrugated tin basha's opposite some refrigerated containers. As far as I am aware, there were never more than eight 5001 Sqn personnel there at one time and all were on a three month detachment to CRE Crown. I must have done two consecutive detachments as I qualified for, indeed went to Pattaya on R&R, which I really enjoyed.

Pattaya at that time was a small pristine fishing village on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Siam. Exotic holiday fun would be a good way to describe my time there. We stayed in a beach bungalow, the bungalow next to us was occupied by American GI's who had much better food than we could ever dream of. So we planned night raids to relieve them of strawberries, ice cream and fresh bread. They, of course planned similar excursions to our food stocks but didn't seem to like our compo rations. Can't think why?

Most of the RAF lads were plant operators working Euclid scrapers, Cat D8H's and BK12 graders. Our spare time like most of the others, was spent in the many bars that had sprung up in the village. My favourite's being the Red Rose bar and the Star Room bar, they always had cold Singha beer. When referring to the bars, there were of course the girls and to this end I seem to remember that it was compulsory to pick up a condom, or several, from the gate house when leaving the camp if one felt that way inclined and of course, many did.

One weekend the rumour went around that a troupe of actors had flown in for our entertainment. I certainly never saw any actors, but the RAF Bristol Freighter aircraft that arrived certainly caused a stir. As it landed, a rather large asphalt bow wave preceeded it down the newly laid runway. All road rollers were immediately put to work flattening out the tarmac, before it could take off again. I believe this incident caused the decision to re-lay the runway with concrete.

Weekends could be spent in Ubon if one was prepared to endure the journey. Sometimes we forsook the Bedford RL and took a chance on the beautifully decorated, but not very safe Hino buses. The buses gave us more protection from the elements, but the stops at the villages increased the journey time. One of the popular places to stay in Ubon was the Tong Phoon Pan hotel or the Fountain Hotel as we called it. We had Samlo (rickshaw) races to the American Eagle bar somewhere on the outskirts of the town. Great times.