The Dustbin Bandits: A Story of RAF 751 Signals Unit in Cyprus 1956 to 1958

In 1956, the author, a radar operator in the RAF, was posted to a mobile radar unit in Cyprus and at that time Cyprus was a troubled island with an insurgency against all things British. Also, he arrived there just in time for what became known as the Suez Crisis. His unit of posting was 751 Signals Unit and for most of the two years he spent with that unit it was deployed at a place called Cape Greco. Cape Greco is a remote little peninsula, a horn of land that juts out South-East of Famagusta Bay. The unit's remote location meant running the gauntlet of ambushes and IEDs and injuries and fatalities did occur. Therefore most of the units personnel, except for occasional respite, spent their time behind barbed wire, an existence akin to POWs. The vast majority of the unit staff were doing their National Service and making the best of the situation. 'The Dustbin Bandits' is an account of daily life on this small remote unit living in basic and deprived circumstances. And, oddly, many who served there, today, look back on it as an experience they were happy to have had. (Revised Feb 2017)