Page 9 - The Princess Mary's Hospital 124pp book.pdf

RAF Nicosia had limited facilities to cope with the massive influx of troops from Egypt and the increased military and post-war civilian air traffic. A new airfield, able to accommodate the largest and heaviest jet aircraft, was therefore constructed on the Akrotiri peninsula9. By 1 January 1956 its single runway of 6,000 feet was ready to use10, followed by an extension to 9,000 feet to allow full V- Bomber11 operational capability by 1959.
THE OPENING
On Thursday 9 February 1956, Royal Air Force (Temporary) Hospital Akrotiri opened its doors for outpatients. Some of its nurses were from the recently closed RAF Hospital Fayid, the last RAF hospital in Egypt12. Twenty beds for medical cases were opened on 14 February, and main surgical facilities were available on 21 February, with a total of 40 beds. The Maternity Department opened two years later, in February 1958. There were now some 30,000 British servicemen, many with families, stationed in Cyprus.
LOCATION
The original hospital was housed in five single-storey pre- fabricated buildings (Cawoods13) that had originally been Airmen’s married quarters, located either side of a road in an area of RAF Akrotiri around Harding Avenue and Duke Street. The Cawoods had originally been intended for Aden and Egypt, but had been diverted to Cyprus. The early days were not easy as much of RAF Akrotiri was still under construction and there were no proper roads. Heavy winter
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rains reduced the area to a mud bath and the staff wore gumboots almost continually14.
The first surgeon at the hospital, Squadron Leader (the late Air Vice-Marshal) Paddy Griffin, described the problems that arose following the first operation:
“When the patient was wheeled back from the operating table the theatre trolley was too wide to go through the doors of the ward (a converted sitting room). A rapid assessment of the situation and the unconscious patient was manhandled through a window back to his bed. The doors were quickly widened.” 15
9 The history of RAF Akrotiri began on 1 July 1955 when the first 30 personnel posted to the 'Unit' established themselves in the flat, dry, rocky scrubland on the windswept Akrotiri Peninsula.
See www.rafakrotiri.co.uk
10 Air Chief Marshal Sir David Lee. Wings in the Sun – a history of the Royal Air Force in the Mediterranean 1945–1986. HMSO, 1989. Chapter 4, The new Cyprus Base, p55.
11 V-Bomber – the Valiant, Victor and Vulcan strategic bombers capable of delivering nuclear weapons inside the USSR.
12 RAF Hospital Fayid, which had officially opened on 1 January 1948 and closed in 1956. Information drawn from Sky Wards – A History of the Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service, 2001.
13 Cawood – named after the North Yorkshire company that constructed these pre-fabricated buildings. This company is still in business.
14 Tenth Anniversary of RAF Hospital. Dateline... Royal Air Force. No 208 dated 29 November 1973.
15 Tenth Anniversary of RAF Hospital. Dateline ... Royal Air Force. No 208 dated 29 November 1973.