For years, Jeddah Kandara airport was the gateway to the Western provinces of Saudi Arabia and, for Hajj pilgrims, the pivotal starting point of their pilgrimage to Medina and Mecca.
For an aviation enthusiast, it was home to the number 8 wing of the RSAF and their C-130 Hercules. Air France also had a facility for its international flights. This, in turn, produced many FAF C-160 Transall flights from Djibouti and transits of Pakistan Air Force Mirage-111s and Singapore Air Force T-33s on delivery flights.
Looking out across the airport from my vantage point, one could see a distant group of aircraft scattered across the desert. With temperatures touching 50 degrees Celsius, the heat haze inevitably made serial reading and closer identification of types difficult.
In 1981, the new King Abdulaziz International Airport, north of Jeddah city, opened with all the latest high-tech and glitz, and the now-defunct Kandara Airport became a development site. As with most construction programmes in Saudi Arabia, where speed is the critical factor, a new highway was to be built, progressing across the disused airport.
Amazingly, the new highway drove straight through that group of dumped aircraft, and once the tarmac was laid, I made a trip to the site.
It was not that straightforward. With photography banned and many construction workers busy along the route, I would have to be careful not to be seen, especially when photographing military aircraft. Driving out in a GMC pickup truck would allow me to blend in with the work teams.
Heavy machinery had moved or pushed aside some aircraft at the site. It was an impressive sight, with MK52 Vampires, T-28s, T34s, C-54s, A-26 Invaders, and many more planes dumped in a dust bowl.
Unfortunately, it was more complex than I had thought, and I was trying not to be visible whilst taking the photographs.
Below are the photographs I took while worrying about a passing police car and the construction crews' puzzled looks.
Looking out over the vast airport's barren desert, you can see the dumped aircraft in the top left-hand corner. Rumour was that the Catalina (bottom right) belonged to Jacques Cousteau, studying the Red Sea coral reef.
In 1981, the new King Abdulaziz International Airport, north of Jeddah city, opened with all the latest high-tech and glitz, and the now-defunct Kandara Airport became a development site. As with most construction programmes in Saudi Arabia, where speed is the critical factor, a new highway was to be built, progressing across the disused airport.
It was not that straightforward. With photography banned and many construction workers busy along the route, I would have to be careful not to be seen, especially when photographing military aircraft. Driving out in a GMC pickup truck would allow me to blend in with the work teams.
Heavy machinery had moved or pushed aside some aircraft at the site. It was an impressive sight, with MK52 Vampires, T-28s, T34s, C-54s, A-26 Invaders, and many more planes dumped in a dust bowl.
Unfortunately, it was more complex than I had thought, and I was trying not to be visible whilst taking the photographs.
Below are the photographs I took while worrying about a passing police car and the construction crews' puzzled looks.
Looking out over the vast airport's barren desert, you can see the dumped aircraft in the top left-hand corner. Rumour was that the Catalina (bottom right) belonged to Jacques Cousteau, studying the Red Sea coral reef.
To my disadvantage, photography was always tricky due to the intense heat haze, which was only exacerbated by using a 500mm lens. This is one of my last photographs at the old Jeddah airport.
Driving out to the dust bowl, this is the first view of the wrecks.
450 C-54 RSAF is now preserved at the Riyadh Museum, static outside.
The serial number of the Cambrian Airways DC-3 is unknown. Interestingly, the sand has stripped away some paint, revealing the RAF Auxiliary Air Force marks. Any information on this aircraft would be much appreciated.
A closer study of those markings shows it is far from its old home at Cardiff Rhoose Airport.
Vampires, Harvard, and Chipmunk aircraft with the city of Jeddah beyond.
Probably HZ-ABE, but the star here was the far A-26 of the RSAF. Sadly, a police car stopped on the new road 'gulp.' I am not 100 per cent sure, but this aircraft was TA-26B 301 RSAF, now displayed at the Riyadh museum.
5B-CAV Cypriot registered DC-3. Looks like it suffered a fire. I am unsure if this was a Haji transport aircraft bought for spares. I have a reference to 5B-CBD being preserved, or is it the same aircraft?
Beech 18, under the cheatline, clearly carries the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but above it is too badly weathered to read. This aircraft is now perched on a pole at a roundabout in Jeddah.
A historic 'seal', the similarity to this Saudia airline wingless F-27, and a beached seal?
450 C-54 RSAF and other various types.
This aircraft was previously assigned to the Mobile Air Material Area at Brookley AFB, Alabama.
In 1957, it entered the Military Assistance Programme (MAP) and was transferred to the Royal Saudi Air Force as 681.
603 DHC-1 Chipmunk RSAF and Vampire MK52.
Vampire MK52 RSAF Identity is unknown. These two aircraft, presumed to be instructional airframes, were transferred to the engineering faculty at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah.
T-28A s/n 51-7723 (MSA174-576) was also assigned to (MOBAR) Air Material Command at Brookley AFB before transfer to the Royal Saudi Air Force as 7723 through the Military Assistance Programme (MAP)
Seen here at King Abdulaziz University, where it would later become a ground instructional airframe.
51-7723 T-28A RSAF.
What an impressive aircraft the T-28 was! 51-7723 still looks great after years of neglect in the desert.
There you have it, looking back some thirty-eight years. Thank goodness I wasn't arrested, and I can enjoy looking at the slides from a bygone era. They were all captured on Kodachrome 64.
Anybody familiar with Jeddah back then would probably know of the Hotel Kandara, standing right opposite the Kandara airport's terminal and Haji terminal, quite the oasis for a Western worker based in Jeddah.
There you have it, looking back some thirty-eight years. Thank goodness I wasn't arrested, and I can enjoy looking at the slides from a bygone era. They were all captured on Kodachrome 64.
Anybody familiar with Jeddah back then would probably know of the Hotel Kandara, standing right opposite the Kandara airport's terminal and Haji terminal, quite the oasis for a Western worker based in Jeddah.
Happy memories, indeed!
