READING Barry Dix's article about the BAC 1-11 brought back memories of 1974/1975, when Gulf Air flew them up and down the Gulf.

I used to fly between Muscat and Salalah and the flight into Muscat (from Bahrain) was a scheduled one under IATA rules and a ticket could be bought at a travel agent.

However, from Muscat to Salalah, the ticket had to be bought from the Oman government, as it became a charter flight (to avoid IATA rules) as Salalah is in south Oman (Dhofar) and in the war zone where fighting took place against the south Yemeni communists.

The plane used to land on a main road in the centre of Salalah - disembarking was through the rear steps, while embarkation was through the front door (engines still running, as the town could be under attack at any time).

The plane parked between stacks of concrete-filled oil drums.

Take-off was back along the road and out to sea at low level to avoid attack. Interesting times.

BILL SHEILS via email