West, Barry

OT 172 - North

Date of Death: 27/07/2015

Obituary from The Gazette  62.

Barry West passed away peacefully on Monday 27 July after a long battle with leukaemia. His funeral took place at Yeovil Crematorium on Friday 7 August. A tribute by Hugh Colley follows:

Barry and I arrived at Ottershaw in January 1951. Although he was North House and I was West, we were both able to recall those rich school days we shared.

On leaving Ottershaw, with Barry off to the RAF and I joining the Army, our careers and contact matched over some 60 years. It was an enormous privilege to know Barry most of his life. We next met after his initial pilot training in Canada. He was flying Hastings out of RAF Lyneham in support of the RAF Parachute School, which trained army paratroopers. Mike Lamerton (OT14 East) was his first Ottershaw customer and I was his second. We then served together in the Gulf a few years later where he was flying Beverleys out of Bahrain in support of the Parachute Regiment Group on training and operational deployment in the Middle East.

In 1971 we were both in the Sultan of Oman’s Armed Forces countering the South Yemen-based insurgency threat to Oman’s Dhofar province. Barry was a Skyvan pilot – Skyvans were the lifeline for resupplying the ground operations and delivering everything from goats to guns on mountain positions. One location was right on the Oman border and subject to shelling and heavy weapon attacks from South Yemen. On one occasion I was beside Barry on a resupply mission, flying a high approach over the mountains, and then Barry, with a chuckle and total calmness, set the aircraft into a tight spiral and spun down to the airstrip, avoiding weapon fire. On landing, the aircraft was sharply unloaded and, after the waiting soldiers were on board, he would taxi to take off, the whole process taking minutes. He would fly field guns, which were at the top end of the Skyvan weight limit, into a hastily constructed rough mountain airstrip with great skill and bravery. For about four months a year Dhofar was subject to the Indian Ocean monsoon with low cloud and mist. It was a severe test of aircraft handling in a mountainous environment. Barry was an outstanding professional pilot who was totally respected and admired by the Sultan’s Army.

On retiring to the West Country Barry built a car to drive and a small aircraft to take Mandy for weekends in France – that in itself is a life story of ability and accomplishment. We had regular contact at Oman Association and Embassy events. (Tony Forward [OT278; East] was Toastmaster at the Embassy Events, so it was good for the three of us to have an Ottershaw inter-house banter.) I always looked forward to these meetings with Barry and his lovely, devoted wife, Mandy.

Barry was an Ottershaw friend who I much liked and then later admired for all that he achieved. I salute him with respect and affection. His marriage to Mandy was so very happy and content that our thoughts and prayers are with her at this difficult time.

Hugh Colley OT 149 - West