Updated 22 October 2023
Dave wrote me again and sent me another photo with a description…
Dad left in Nov 1942. Dad is the short guy in the middle of the front row in front of a Kittyhawk. I have negatives there which need some further research.
Dave
So Dave has more photos when his father was with 107MU in Egypt which means this will be an ongoing project paying homage to his father.
Note
MU stands for Maintenance Unit.
You will find more information on the Internet here.
Excerpt
This website serves as a memorial to Joe Shortland who spent his RAF service in World War 2 in a sand dusted airfield called Kasfareet in far off Egypt. Set against the shores of the Great Bitter lake beside the Suez Canal, the men of this camp were charged with the task of supplying the Allied Forces fighting on the Western Front in North Africa with modern fighter aircraft. Day after relentless day they persevered in assembling, testing and shipping out aeroplanes supplied in crated form received by sea or flown all the way from the United States via South America then crossing the Atlantic to British West Africa to ultimately follow the Takoradi Run by short hops across Central Africa, then up the Nile Valley to Egypt and Kasfareet. Crated aircraft were also shipped to Takoradi and assembled there prior to their maiden flight in groups of six escorted by a Blenheim Bomber and later Baltimore,Marauder,Boston, and Maryland bombers to Egypt. No 107 Maintenance Unit at RAF Kasfareet was formed in the early days of the war and quickly established itself as the leader in re-stocking the valiant fighter and bomber squadrons operating deep in the Western Sahara Desert. In total, some 4500 aircraft passed through 107 MU during those perilous years and it was much later in his life that Joe felt charged to establishing the 107 MU Association to maintain contact with those men he had lived and worked with through the war years ultimately establishing his newsletter, ” The Kasfareet Kronicle ” to record their past moments and memories for all time.
RAF 23 Squadron 