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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 3116.PDF
FLIGHT, 20 November 1959 Mr. R. Hendley, supervisor at Barkway, master station of the Eastern Gee Chain, and the duty controller (seated), Mr. J. Hearn The crystal re-processing flight, staffed almost entirely bywomen civilian employees, re-activates used crystals and converts them to different frequencies. This saves the R.A.F. a great dealof money, because buying new ones for every frequency change would prove highly expensive. R.A.F. Edlesborough is just west of Whipsnade and a few milesfrom Dunstable, and its aerial farm implies its function as one of the two main wireless transmitting stations in this country on theCommonwealth Air Forces Network. It has circuits to the Middle East (Cyprus), Nairobi, Ceylon, Malta, Ottawa, Delhi and Aden.The station is commanded by F/L. P. R. Batt; it was established just before the war and its equipment is used to produce multi-channel radio-teleprinter transmissions in the H.F. band. A con- tinuous watch is kept and the majority of its staff are tech licians,for the most part ground wireless fitters. All its circuits have main and secondary elements, and its longest direct link is 5,000miles, with Ceylon. Edlesborough's title is No. 810 Signals Unit. There are 27transmitters at the station, 15 of them in constant use. In the event of power failure a standby power-house, using a dieselengine and manned by an A.M.W.D. engineer, comes into opera- tion. Power can be restored within 30 sec, but the transmittershave to be warmed up before the circuits are connected again. Aerials used at Edlesborough are the diamond-shaped rhombictype; outside the buildings are the feeder poles, masts and towers,. The staff can carry out up to and including second-line servicing;third- and fourth-line is done by the R.E.U. "FLIGHT" PHOTOGRAPHS R.A.F. Barkway, the next unit visited, is master station on theEastern Gee Chain and, like all Gee units, is civilian-staffed. Its supervisor, Mr. R. Hendley, and his nine technicians are veryloyal to their work, as evidenced by the epic story of how one of them struggled nine miles on foot through the snow last winterto get to Barkway. A four-watch system is maintained through- out the 24 hours; thus with two on at a time the station is runvery economically. Outwardly, the station consists of a squat-looking self-containedbuilding dwarfed by its 360ft high transmitting tower. Equip- ment used is the Cossor display unit and Metro-Vickers trans-mitter; there are three of the latter, one being on the air at a time and another at standby. There is also a standby powerplant, andif power failure occurs the service can be restored in \\ min. Naturally a Gee station, like the Windmill Theatre, never closes:when a slave gets temporarily out of alignment, alarm bells ring at slave and master station. Barkway is allowed up to two minutesfor equipment changes (even a break of 25 sec has been com- mented upon by user aircrew). The timing control system betweenBarkway, as master station, and its slave is accurate to 1 part in 1012. The Gee stations also serve the civil airlines and independentoperators equipped to use them. One of the two flying stations operated by Signals Command,R.A.F. Tangmere has had a famous and eventful history since its first squadrons of fighter aircraft arrived in 1926, and until lastyear continued to be in Fighter Command. Then with the re- basing of No. 1 Sqn., it looked as though this famous Sussexairfield might be closed; but after a few months' uncertainty Tangmere passed into the control of No. 90 Group shortly beforeit became Signals Command. Two squadrons are based there, No. 245 with specially modifiedCanberra B.2s, and No. 115 with Varsities. Other Signals Cqm- Recording an oscilloscope reading on the air calibration of a radio navigational aid: F/Sgt. Hendry in a Varsity of No. 115 Sqn. mand elements at Tangmere are No. 2 Ground Radio ServicingSqn. and a Ground Radio Calibration Flight. In other respects the station is organized on normal R.A.F. lines, with flying, tech-nical and administrative wings. Enthusiastic about its new estab- lishment in Signals Command, Tangmere is also proud of itsdistinguished past. The station commander, G/C. W. D. David. D.F.C., A.F.C., is particularly conscious of a continuing traditionbecause he knew the station in pre-war days; and there is a physical link with the old times in the presence of many long-serving civilian employees. The Signals Command flying and ground units at Tangmereare complementary, working in conjunction with each other and having as their joint task the checking and calibration of R.A.F.navigational aids and radar equipment in the U.K., R.A.F. Germany and Mediterranean areas. No. 2 G.R.S.S. moved to Tangmere from Pucklechurch.Originally this radio servicing work was all done from Henlow, then in 1951 the organization was split up into four units. Allelectronic equipment in general use is dealt with by the G.R.S. squadrons: wireless, radar, G.C.A., C.R./D.F., ACR.7C andA.T.C. installations. As one of the officers of the Tangmere squadron put it, "Our job is to do work that units cannot dothemselves." Calls for assistance may be received from some 120 units—using, between them, more than 40 different items of radioor radar equipment. As far as replacement or repair of equipment is concerned. No. 2 G.R.S.S. either brings the items back toTangmere or sends out a party to do the job on the spot. As with many aspects of Signals Command activity, this work hasto be done against time, the squadron's terms of reference expect- ing it to complete a job in twenty-four hours. No. 2 G.R.S.S.,small in numerical strength, is responsible for an area which includes all of Southern England, the West Midlands, Wales,Gibraltar and certain units in Germany. The ground radio calibration flight at Tangmere provides theground element for air performance checks at the C.R. stations in this country as required, and some in R.A.F. Germany. Butits principal work is concerned with ground recording during air checks of D.F. equipment. Parties are sent out to an installationand results recorded; these are brought back to base, analysed, put in graphical form and forwarded to Command headquarters, wherethe radio engineering branch assesses them and decides whether the equipment under scrutiny is operationally acceptable or not.When the flight works with the C. & R. system it uses one of the No. 245 Sqn. Canberras, but otherwise the Varsities of No. 115Sqn. The strength of the flight is 65 and its programme of work is governed by what the squadrons are doing. As its memberssometimes travel by air it is one of the few units where a National Serviceman is certain to get some flying. A G.R.C.F. D/F teamcomprises a sergeant ground wireless fitter, corporal technician and two or three operators (who may include National Service-men). Draughtsmen in the drawing office of the G.R.C.F. have to complete their diagrams from the aircraft record—Decca log orGee—to show how it relates to the machine's bearing at a par- ticular time. No. 115 Sqn. at Tangmere, operating Varsities, is commandedby S/L. F. P. Mulkern; and with 18 three-man crews on its strength has as its main task the calibration and checking of radionavigation and approach aids in the U.K. and elsewhere. Its 14 Varsities bear on their sides the yellow "lightning flash"that denotes Signals Command. The aircraft, though basically T.ls, are in some instances modified for special installations. Thesquadron's work embraces both radio and radar equinment and the type of equipment it checks makes an impressive list—I.L.S., (Concluded on fpge 626)
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