Op Storm (Oman/Dhofar 1970-76)

[Hawke]

Re: Op Storm (Oman/Dhofar 1970-76)

Edit too late, but I also have some webbing being altered to make "drop pouches" at Timpsons, along with a 58 pattern belt with a rollpin buckle, original ones being rare as hens teeth and VERY expensive.

Happy Fathers Day to me indeded!

[Hawke]

Re: Op Storm (Oman/Dhofar 1970-76)

Picked up the Roger Coles book yesterday for £2.99 in "The Works". That's been my day sorted....

[Brandon]

Re: Op Storm (Oman/Dhofar 1970-76)

Thanks a lot, i try to make them as interesting to look at as i can. Its what i love seeing in other peoples pictures. Yeah its fair to say we see more of the sun on tv, than in the sky! Whilst im mentioning it (a little off topic) i thought id make the most of it that day & get a couple of Borneo 'Claret Op' type pictures too








I havent read Jeapes' book yet, but ive seen the pictures in it. Its one of those things Ill have to add to the never ending list. All my attention has been on the Falklands the last while, that i havent been focusing on anything else tbh. But im a Massive Oman fan too, so will be good to do some more stuff at some point. Yeah 'This is the SAS' is a must for anyone interested in proper old school SAS. Some Great pictures in there.

[Hawke]

Re: Op Storm (Oman/Dhofar 1970-76)

BRILLIANT photo's Rusty. (I didn't know the sun ever shone in Scotland. Never did when I was in Faslamabad or Arbroath.) May I also add Tony Jeapes book "Op Storm". I read Roger Coles book a month or two back." This is the SAS" is a brilliant reference piece, picked up a copy for a fiver in a Sue Ryder shop last year.

[Brandon]

Re: Op Storm (Oman/Dhofar 1970-76)

Yeah, sadly its a very much overlooked campaign considering its significance. I think some folk perhaps dont know enough about it & the fact that the SAS have been fighting insurgent wars long before they were door kicking in Iraq in the 00s. & as the battle of Mirbat was 40 years ago this year what better time to have a go (basic or otherwise) at a loadout of the conflict. Theres quite a few other books out there on Oman that are worth a look. Off the top of my head 'This is the SAS' by Tony Geraghty & 'SAS The Illustrated History' By Barry Davies have some nice Oman shots. I read 'SAS Operation Storm: Nine men against four hundred' by Roger Cole & Richard Belfield a few months back. Its a great book that deals with the battle of Mirbat, but also takes you from the beginning of the SAS involvement to the end.

I'm surprised that not more people are doing this as a load out, considering how cheap and easy it is to replicate.

Well....

Adoo Hunter '76.













One of the belt kits with two 20 round Armalite mag pouches, 2 44 pattern water bottle pouches, E&E pouch & altimeter pouch, all on a roll pin belt.

I took these last year on practically the only scorching day we had. It was a case of 'this weather would be cracking for an Oman impression...grab what ever is near & go before it rains!'. But now, from reading Cole & Belfields book, it the weather wouldn't matter at all. Oman has its cold & wet season. So much so that the lads did their training, surprisingly, up the north east of England! It had some scratching their heads at 1st until they got out there.

Had I not been so quick to do them, I would have included some of the kit below...



72 Pattern light weight combat pack (aka SAS Vest)



Original ww2 windproof smock dated '43 on the left, Silvermans repro on the right





Danny Elliot (top) & Lofty Large (above) showing us how they did it for real.

[Hawke]

As mentioned already on the Northern Ireland thread, I have gone a bit 1970's-tastic recently. (SLR, M16a1, plus listening to a load of brother's Genesis lp's. If I start drinking Watney's Red Barrel, the transformation will be complete.) and have been reading "Storm Front" by Rowland White, an excellent book about the campaign, and a lot on the Battle of Mirbat, specifically the role played by "contract" pilots in an often ignored and very bloody conflict.
The 1970's are a great era for cheap kit - '58 webbing, OG trousers and shirt and low cut desert boots (a surplus store in Exeter supplied these all for under £60). On a certain online auction site, there is one of those 1960's/70's windproof smocks, purporting to be genuine, but instead a copy of the 1940 pattern smock is available from Silvermans which with a zip in place will do the job fine for airsoftiness. I'm surprised that not more people are doing this as a load out, considering how cheap and easy it is to replicate.