My Experiences of Radar Installation

My experiences of Radar Installation
By Edward G. Clark

In 1924 I joined the Royal Navy, and trained on the HMS Ganges. In 1938 I left the Royal Navy having travelled to many parts of the world.

In 1939 I obtained employment, via the ex Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen’s Association, at RAF Kidbrooke in London. This was known as No. 1 Maintenance Unit (No.1 MU) and I joined as a Rigger (Radar) in the No. 2 installation unit. At that time radar was in its infancy, there being only one unit, at Redcar in Yorkshire where they had a 75 foot transportable mast.

There were not many men at No. 2 Installation Unit. One foreman, one chargehand (elect) and about twelve riggers. Our boss was Squadron Leader Rose, one time Wireless Petty Officer, RN. I learnt that I would have to travel from place to place around the country, with a team of workers.

No. 2 Installation Unit was responsible for fabricating and maintaining all radar stations and aerials on 240 foot wooden, free standing masts. Ten days after joining I was sent with others to Pevensey, near Eastbourne. But when we arrived the site was under water so we returned home. About four days later we were sent to Danby Beacon, near Whitby in Yorkshire. We were there to build a radar station. Riggers, electricians, and overhead wiremen all helped each other. There was a 240 foot free-standing wooden mast on which we had to fix receiver aerials from top to bottom. Later on, there were 360 foot free-standing steel masts which were used for transmitting.

A while later we were working at Otterburn, near Morpeth, when we were called back to London. We boarded a train at Newcastle. The train was lit in the compartments by little blue lamps and the train was full of men being call up for the services.

Radar stations were being built all round the coast, from Shetland to the Isle of Wight; we were kept very busy.

In November 1939 I was sent for by the office, and I tried to think of anything which I had done wrong. The foreman informs me that I am to take two riggers, five lorries with trailers (loaded with 75 foot masts), five drivers and five mates to Dunwich, in Suffolk. I was to erect five masts and fit them with aerials, using the drivers’ mates as labourers. An RAF Flying Officer joined us at Dunwich. Having finished the job we returned to the office and I was told I had been made a Charge-hand. I was now to be in charge of gang of mixed grades of workers.

At one time the gang went to Skegness by train to build a Chain Home (CHL) radar station at Inglemels. Butlin’s Holiday Camp at Skegness was now HMS Royal Arthur, the station for men joining the Royal Navy. My top hand, George Mitchell, was six foot plus. As we were getting off the train, we were met by a short Petty Officer who approached George and asked “Are you for the Navy?” George was ex-Navy, and had also served for four years on a whaling ship. I don’t think I had better mention the reply George gave.

(George, conscious of his size and in civies, worried about his duty. Somehow he managed to ship as a Quartermaster on a merchantman. He did a round trip and next shipped as a Bo’ sun on a tanker. He never came back.)

Whilst at Butlin’s I ran into a Chief Petty Officer from my last ship, the gunboat HMS Moth. I also met a Lieutenant I had known at Ganges, now a Commander, he later made Captain.

Later the gang were sent to Ludlow, Shropshire. The site was at Clee which is 1800 feet above sea level. There were four 120 foot masts and four foot of snow on the ground. I managed to get my fingers frost bitten.

Whilst we were working at Clee, a man walked on to the site. I thought he was looking for work. He told me his name but I did not get it. He mentioned my boss’s name. After he left I asked one of my chaps who the man was. He replied that the man was Sir Robert Renwick. Was my face red? What had I said? Had I spoken out of place?

In December 1942 our daughter was born. Later, I was working at BBC Daventry, Northamptonshire. Returning from work one day to our digs, I heard a baby cry. I knew that cry. My wife had put baby clothes in the bottom of the pram with the child on top, and travelled from Charlton via London Bridge and Liverpool Street to Daventry and found the digs where I was staying.

Another time the gang travelled by road in a three ton Crossley lorry to Helston in Cornwall. Aussie Smith and I got digs at the Prepolpen Hotel at Port Levan. We had turned in for the night when we heard a siren, like an air-raid warning. It was travelling through the streets. There was a knock on the door. I was wanted, who would want to speak to me? Nobody there know me. It was the Police. The policeman asked, “Who are you? What are you doing in Helston?” Although I showed him my ID I could not say why I was there — and we had only arrived that day.

The next day, when I returned from work, the police were waiting, and again the following day. It appears that the siren was calling out the Home Guard. Someone had reported seeing a gang of men land from a boat. We had arrived in a lorry with RAF markings on the side!

On another occasion I was ordered to go to Scarborough, then on to Whitby, and then to Louth in Lincolnshire. We completed the work at Scarborough and moved on to Whitby. Whilst we were at Whitby a dispatch rider arrived with blue-prints of modification to the design of the installation. We finished work at Whitby and returned to Scarborough to make the modifications. Then on to Louth. When we arrived we reported to the guard house and was told to telephone London. No. 2 Installation Unit told us to abort all the modifications which we had done since these were now obsolete — it seems the boffins were working quicker than we could install.

We were called to Cornwall again. This time me, two riggers and an electrical fitter were sent to Sennon Cove, near Land’s End. Some American servicemen had dismantled a Chain Home Low (CHL) radar station from another site and were to rebuild it at Sennon. We were to advise. On the site I met Flight Leiutenant Easy, RAF. A difference of opinion arose — I thought American personnel were to erect the mast, they thought that I was to do so. I didn’t have a full crew or necessary gear. I telephoned London to request a lorry with my gear, with two drivers to drive through the night. My request was turned down, I was to “improvise”. I sorted out a top Sergeant and told him what was needed. With his help a stump derrick (which was a tree), wooden pickets, ropes and a block we got started. We rigged the derrick, guys and pickets doubled up, ready to lift a one ton turntable. What a calamity! The pickets pulled and everything fell down. And in front of the Yanks!

We had to start again, using three Studebaker lorries as guy pickets, each one anchored in reverse gear. A fourth lorry was used for pulling power, and up went the one ton turntable, cradle and aerial frame. Everyone was happy. That evening I met the Yanks in the First and Last pub to show my gratitude. We arranged to meet the next evening, they refused as they had not been paid. I still went but did not get too far inside when I was met by a drink. They had been paid, that’s American hospitality.

I was working at St. David’s Haverfordwest, over in the south west corner of Wales. We received an SOS — Holyhead Station was off the air and I was to investigate. We had a vehicle - part coach, part work-shop with a one ton turntable sitting on the back axle. We filled up with petrol and started off. Remember that there were no road signs as there was a war on. Our coach had RAF markings on the side. My driver asked me to look out for a garage with RASC markings, as the petrol was getting low. We keep asking the way but, being in Wales, we keep on mispronouncing the names and so we showed the road map to help us. We came to Upper Corris on the road to Dolgellau, and saw an RASC pump. We asked for petrol and was told, “Sorry, this is for emergencies only”. Reply: “This is an emergency, we are running out”. I was told I would have to see the captain of the Home Guard. Reply: “I’ll see Jimmy Christ himself if necessary”. I met the captain who is also the local Chaplain. After debate he agreed and I told the driver to drive under the pump but he hit a boulder and bang goes the driving shaft. ‘We had to telephone RAF Towyn, the nearest station, to be towed in, some eighteen miles. I then contacted Holyhead for a relief lorry. Thanks to the relief driver, he had the foresight to book digs for eight men before he left.

Another time I took a small gang round the country collecting Lister Diesel generators (KVAs) from stations. We had a coach, a ten ton lorry and a tank carrier. We started at Barrow-in-Furness and went from there to Prestatyn in Wales. We crossed over the Menai Bridge where we caused a spot of bother owing to the size of the large lorry and its trailer. Our next stop was Holyhead in Anglesey and then on to Pen-y-Bryn. And so we went from station to station and on to Pembroke. We would load one KVA on to the lorry and two more on to the tank trailer, which were then taken to Norwich whilst we moved on to the next station to meet up. From Pembroke we travelled up to Birkenhead to take a tank landing craft to Douglas, on the Isle of Man, and so back to London.

I had one strange commission. Three riggers and I were sent to Harpenden, to the Institute of Agriculture and Fisheries. This seemed rather strange. What would Agriculture and Fisheries want with a mast? I was shown a heap of timber that I recognised as a seventy-five foot mast in pieces. We constructed the mast and I enquired about its purpose. I was told that lights were put at various heights on the mast. Under each light a jam jar was hung. Insects flew into the light and fell in the jar, and by this means the scientists learned which insects flew at what height. This is true, and I don’t think it was a wind up.

On another occasion I was sent to Box, near Bath, where I met my first underground unit.

The war is over, and No. 2 Installation Unit is amalgamating with Signals and transferring to RAF West Drayton in Buckinghamshire. Not long after this the unit moved again to Henley. This was a journey too far and I quit the Unit.

It’s possible, that at the age of ninety five I could be the last of No. 2 Installation Unit.

Edward G. Clark

Ex ABRN Official No. C/J 110581

Ex Chargehand Rigger (Radar), No. 2 Installation Unit, RAF Kidbrooke.

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