James talks about his experiences during his service as a Chief Techician at RAF Neatishead in the 1970s and 80s.
RAF Neatishead
This is about my service at RAF Neatishead, 1976-1982. As a Master Radar Station, Neatishead was an integral part of the UK’s defence system. A serious business.
I was part of the engineering wing. This was led by a Wing Commander, who was supported by two Squadron Leaders. One of these squadron leaders was an American exchange officer at major level. There was a junior officer in command, a Chief Technician to guide him whilst running the place, and 20 or so trained specialist airmen to maintain the zone.
The R-12, which housed the Type 85 radar, worked with shifts. You’d work three 12-hour day shifts, followed by three 12-hour night shifts, and then four days off.
Taceval
The equipment could keep you busy, but the most onerous task of all was Taceval. This was a Tactical Evaluation of the stations ability to function in its prime role by defending itself, its ground attack forces, and its nuclear attack forces over three days or more. There would be members of the RAF regiment involved in attacking, and we would defend. Even the operations staff were used from time to time. I was usually guard commander, despite being put on engineering. If left to the army to defend the zone, they probably would have done it with a dozen men.
The Wing Commander came to me one exercise saying he’d visited a remote communications site, and there were a couple of cars parked at a remote junction. He asked me to go see, though we had no authority outside of the station perimeter. I went, and I told them that we’d been playing war games and we detected no instruments. I was merely taking a closer look. They were in their respective cars and gone before I returned to mine. I suspect it was an assignation.
Another thing the Taceval team would do was disable the equipment and observe the recovery time. All the lights out due to an air raid would take two airmen 13 minutes or more to affect, since there were so many buildings involved. The nuclear biological chemical part of the exercise was welcome, if only for the fact it signified we were on the last stages.
In addition to Taceval, if a new senior officer was posted in, the Commanding Officer (CO) was likely to call a mini evaluation (Minival) to show them the ropes.
Accommodation
Neatishead had no accommodation. It had an officers’ mess, which shared a joint kitchen with the mixed ranks’ mess. Single airmen and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) were accommodated at RAF Coltishall. It wasn’t the most restful of arrangements when you’re sleeping off nights, what with being a busy air station.
Due to pressure for billeting at Coltishall Senior NCO’s mess, I was told to live out. I secured a place near Neatishead sharing a thatched cottage with a regiment warrant officer.
Snowed in at Neatishead
There was a very bad winter, where it snowed a great deal. I was due on night shift and the road to the site was blocked. Where the road was below the fields had now become impassable. Come time, I walked across the fields to the site, and I saw airmen digging a CO’s car out. The officer on shift said ‘more men were required on snow clearing duties. I forbade this; we are here to maintain this radar station, not clear snow. We have fuel, food, and if we need supplies, RAF Coltishall will come helicopter them in. Only essential snow clearing will be done, and I want rum issued to those doing it.’
I asked the American officer and it was in the regulations. Two bottles were duly procured for the officers’ mess, and later an anchor of rum appeared in a control Room. I was quite popular.
Senior Aircraftsman W
Senior Aircraftsman W was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, not by a long chalk. He wanted to remaster to Motor Transport Driver. A Senior NCO was appointed to vet his suitability to continue as a radar mechanic over a week. Eventually he was allowed to remaster. Lots of rigmarole and time wasted.
Royal visit
We had a visit from a royal, a minor one but still to be addressed as Your Highness. Everyone was allocated their duties and the visit was planned with military precision. Then they discovered I would be on duty and in control on that day. In my annual assessment, a squadron leader said ‘I’m supposed to ask if you would consider taking a commission. We don’t want any rough diamonds in the mess.’ They managed to hide me away on the day, on other duties.
Managing the station
The RAF were coming up short on engineering officers, at least in the radar trade. The Wing Commander decided he had two chiefs who could safely be left to run a shift without the benefit of an officer. I was chosen as one of them, Eric Harding the other. Very soon after this decision was made, I’m on night shift with my feet up in the control room reading from a newspaper, when the major and the squadron leader come in to see if I was managing. There was a bit of a do on in the officers’ mess, that evening. I pointed out that I had a dozen or more trained airmen at my beck and call, and was perfectly comfortable being in charge of a Master Radar Station.
The service then wanted the officer selection to include serving NCOs. It worked for the most part.
New sergeant
We had a sergeant join the watch. I had the usual welcome chat with him, checking he was content with the posting and had a place. It seemed hardly a day later and Wing Commander Beverly rang me to say that this new sergeant was in hospital after having taken an overdose. I was then grilled about his mental health and demeanour. I scarcely knew the bloke.
Once he returned to duty, I found him a job in engineering wing headquarters. This was a wooden building with windows. When I was with him, I asked him to do this or that for me. Once, ‘Grab me these pill bottles and shake it,’ and then ‘Oh, on second thought, don’t bother. I’ll do it myself.’
Return from Boulmer
I was detached to RAF Boulmer and on return I was a spare body. Sitting in the rest room one afternoon, the Wing Commander came in and asked me to take over the current shift. One of the Chiefs hadn’t turned up to shift, and the Wing Commander was a bit lost having me replace him. I suggested he’d b….d off home but it turned out he’d had an accident en route. I always felt a bit guilty over that.
Airfield Control Radar 7D
The Wing Commander felt there were too many airmen on per shift, but the workload meant we needed that many. His solution was to introduce a new looking radar to fill the gap between the main ones. True searching of radars involved ground planes and terrain consideration, virtually a black art. An Airfield Control Radar 7D (ACR 7D) was procured to fill the gap. An ACR 7D is a gun laid radar, or at least it was years ago.
Weybourne on the coast was available, so it was slotted there, along with troops to man the zone. Sergeant G was put in charge, he referred to it as rocks on wheels. Sergeant L held the generator there, he was a bit of a whizz mechanic, so we all settled again. It gave the officers on watch at Neatishead a run out during the day, if they wanted an eye-out place.
Other notable events at Neatishead
I told one boss, a lieutenant, that there were fish in the emergency water supply next to the fire station. He brought his fishing gear in one night to test my claim. Yes, it did have fish in it. I also had him douse the water on the grassy areas, that seemed to work too.
I heard about a fall through the R4 roof, and the subsequent death.
A fire watch was kept by the Type 84 radar. It had a CO2 fire suppressant system fitted, which one of the retained firemen wanted to set off to test the zone. I disabused him of that idea. A cheerful and willing crowd was quite happy to muck in to run the trailer pump edition. Happy days.
One cold frosty morning, I arrived as the council gritters turned up. I let them in, and they were more than happy to grit the camp roads for me. It was strictly a no go, but the troops were well pleased.
New accommodation at Coltishall
The sergeant’s mess at Coltishall was built, and I moved in there. I had to remember coming in off a night shift to ring the mess and say I wanted a late breakfast, otherwise they wouldn’t feed me.
Final thoughts
I enjoyed working. I reached Chief Technician, the peak of my career if you like, and I found I could do the job and enjoy doing it. So yeah, I liked it at Neatishead. I loved Norfolk too. We stayed near there, and it became home, though we moved out recently.
There were drawbacks to the job, of course. Living out, putting up with things, Taceval being a pain, and so on. Little things, but I enjoyed being a chief, running a radar station.
James Parker talking to WISEArchive on 4th November 2023 via Zoom from Sutton Bridge. © WISEArchive 2024. All rights reserved.
