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CHAPTER 2
The Royal Air Force (Temporary) Hospital, Akrotiri: 1956–1963
In the early 1950s, as the worldwide clamour for independence from imperial powers gathered pace, relations between Egypt and Britain began to deteriorate, and it became increasingly apparent that the British military presence in the Canal Zone7 could not continue for long.
In April 1954, Colonel Nasser became Prime Minister8 of Egypt and by October he had signed an agreement with the British Secretary of State for War to withdraw all British troops from Egypt within twenty months. As a result British troops began dismantling their bases in the Canal Zone and relocating to Cyprus. This was the only other British territory in the Eastern Mediterranean and, hereafter, it became the main British base in the Middle East.
The Royal Air Force (Temporary) Hospital, Akrotiri.
Hawker Drive
7 Canal Zone – the British-occupied strip of territory safeguarding the Suez Canal that was considered a vital communication link to British interests ‘east of Suez’. Nasser’s nationalisation of the Canal in July 1956 following the British withdrawal precipitated the Suez Crisis.
8 Seven months after becoming Prime Minister, Colonel Nasser succeeded General Neguib as President of Egypt, on 17 November 1954.
