蜜芽传媒

Some of Cpl. Dennis Reed鈥檚 (1461902) RAF radar mechanic鈥檚 experiences in WW 2
Sept 鈥�42 to Sept 鈥�46

Called up July 鈥�41
Joined Service 12 September 鈥�41 鈥� RAF Padgate near Warrington Lancs.

General drill and discipline 鈥� 6 weeks Morecombe seafront etc.

Waiting Wireless mechanics course 鈥� RAF Waterbeach Cambs.

January 1st. 1942 Posted to wireless mechanics鈥� course Holloway Road Civilian training school London N. Billeted in Canonbury.

May 1 & 2. Passed out one of the top 6 airmen totalling 100 and posted to RAF Yatesbury on RADAR mechanics course, most of the rest went to Wireless Mechanics Course elsewhere.

June 鈥�42. RAF Yatesbury off A4 near Calne Wilts was a training camp for aircrew etc.. We were separately housed. The course was carried out in isolated campus about 600 yards away towards the officers鈥� quarters. Secrecy was paramount we were told both for our own safety and the secrecy of the equipment we were about to maintain.

1 Sept 鈥�42. Passed out AC2 from RAF Yatesbury and posted to 77 wing North Wales. (During the course we had lectures from A.C. Clark then Sgt., a personal acquaintance of mine) who became the famous author. Posted to Blackpool Tower C.H. station. It was on the possible closure list because of faults with cables from tower to aerials meant that direction finding was rubbish.

1 October 鈥�42 Posted to RAF Great Orme. CHL type at Llandudno housed in the site of a former hotel for golfers.

1st. Jan 鈥�43. Promoted to LAC after some hair-raising storms which meant lashing the aerials to the wooden structure in gale force winds. I suggested that the aerials had straining sockets attached to the aerial frame which would reach to blocks into the concreted ground. Great success.

The equipment covered the Irish Sea shipping and training flights from Squires Gate airfield near Blackpool.
Three incidents on shipping need mentioning.
One outward bound convoy from Liverpool were likely to collide with the Calf of Man. Told Liverpool control. They gave information 鈥淐heck Course鈥� without saying how they knew.
Later an inward bound convoy was off usual course. Information was received with concern - 鈥渢hat in the mine field.鈥� Later we were told that the channel and the mine field had moved in the latest storm. We also tracked very low flying aircraft, flying due south from Barrow in Furness for the research station at Malvern.

Took course on 3cm. Megnetron to cover shipping in Liverpool bay.

1 May 43 Promoted corporal.

1 Aug. 43 Posted to RAF Prestatyn CHL. I was also available to cover the needs of Navy 3cm. station nearby (also to cover Liverpool bay shipping.)

1 March 鈥�44 Posted to RAF Yatesbury for 10 week course. Told it was a hush hush development of RADAR and that absolute secrecy was needed for the safety of the equipment鈥檚 functioning and for ourselves. The equipment was called OBOE. Two RADAR stations many miles apart (one cat & one mouse) were used to give directions to one aircraft at anyone time flying over enemy territory as to where it should bomb a set target site. We could set the range to 1/100th of a mile at a range of up to 300 miles. The pilot listened to one station and flew down a set course; the bomb aimer listened for the other station which told him how far down the course and when to release the bomb. The equipment seemed to work well from the pictures showing the target before and after the raid.

During the early part of this course my fianc茅e obtained confirmation that she would receive a dowry after 5陆 years service rather than 6 years, so I asked if I could be put back one week so that we could get married. This was granted, and the happy occasion was 22 April 鈥�44.

Mid May 鈥�44 Posted to RAF Hawkshill Down near Walmer (between Deal and Dover). A CHL site was already 1 mile SW. of Walmer on top of the cliffs. This new site used 3cm magnetron was 3 miles away westward in the same direction. The site had just been completed. The chalk undersoil was exposed and white trackways went to the three stations named Hawshill 4, 5, & 6. There was no camouflage whatsoever, the brick blast walls were 15 ins. thick which was penetrated by a bofors shell fired at an incoming buzz bomb which had failed to hit the shell鈥檚 target. The site was about 400 yards from the edge of the cliff and we could see the clock tower in Calais and our ships passing through the English channel to the invasion area. It was an ideal site; we worked with RAF Worth Maltravers 3 cm. station near Swanage and RAF Winterton 10 miles North of Yarmouth (Suffolk).

Despite being used every night suitable for flying, neither sites at Hawkshead were attacked by the Germans, even though their navy guns shot at shipping two miles off our shore, and made attacks on civilian targets in Deal, Dover and Canterbury. One attack on Walmer near our domestic site for administration. our dining areas and NAAFI. I was billeted in a grand house near the cliff tops.

August 鈥�44 During August, Flying Bombs often went over our sites. At night we often attacked their launching sites and depots used before the bombs had been dispersed to their launching sites for the attack on England. The results were often spectacular. Our apparatus would give the bomb release signal and we would rush to the cabin door and often saw a very large explosion.

September 鈥�44. While off duty we were taught to drive by the BSM and I passed in 6 lessons, in roads which had little traffic!! Then posted to Worth Maltraves and billeted in Swanage to learn to drive lorries. Six more lessons learning double declutching when changing gear and we were posted to RAF Cardington near Bedford. Here we were assembled to waterproof our operational equipment prior to being posted overseas!!

We left in the first week of October for Worthy Down, I being the co-driver of a 3-ton truck taking about 10 men. The last 30 miles saw me driving in the dark as the appointed driver could not see in the dark! I couldn鈥檛 see much either. On arrival the 10 men in the back said to driver Ken 鈥測ou did a super job鈥�. He did not disillusion them.
We then drove to Tilbury dock and embarked on a tank landing ship At 5 am we left and crossed to Ostend arriving at 4pm. On the beach our 30 odd trucks were then driven in convoy to a resting place some 20 miles towards Brussels, again in the dark, but with local cyclists claiming the right to cross in front of us whenever they thought fit.

Next day we stayed near our HQ RAF 60 group at Mons and then later set up set up the equipment on a hillside to the southeast near Rosie, an airdrome taken over by the Americans. 鈥� Second week in October 鈥�44

After two weeks we retreated back to Mons following a German counterattack towards Dinan. One of our advance units was nearly cut off.

After a week in Mons we were directed to Alsace. The journey was quite tortuous in the last part (the second day) because of recent German occupation and blown up bridges. In late October we arrived in the village of Mutzig 2miles from Molsheim and 15 miles from Strasburg at about 10 pm. All the signs in German and my weekly Daily Mail, (a week old) showing the area in German occupation! We were not impressed. Had the navigator gone wrong? Next morning came and we were still not sure. The locals were talking in Bass German and were not friendly. The children knew no French!

November / December 鈥�44 We erected our apparatus, a large cabin (on wheels I pulled by a 鈥淢atador), one diesel generator, one workshop cum rest room etc., on the 鈥淢aginot鈥� line above the Schirmeck valley. We used it and with three other similar arrangements to direct RAF bombers to targets in Germany. The set-up had the reference 9452 & No 1 9000

By the second week in December 鈥�44, the Germans had regrouped and appeared too be threatening to cross the Rhine and occupy Strasbourg. This caused many of the local population to form a steady stream of refugees walking up the valley through Mutzig towards Schirmeck. RAF thought it wise that the very secret equipment should be taken back to the west side of the Vosges Mountains to Baccarat. The apparatus was parked on the frozen local athletics ground, the crews billeted in local homes. A guard was placed around the site. Overnight there was 12ins. of snow, which was very slow to clear. Early in January 1945 we returned to Mutzig and the site on the Maginot line.

Feb. March 鈥�45.We continued to direct bombing raids over Germany, and in the few weeks before the Germans surrendered we were constantly trying to direct the Mosquitos to bomb the Bertesgarten, Hitler鈥檚 place of ultimate retreat. Perhaps!!. The range was just over 300 miles, but the mosquitos could only reach 30000 ft. and were 鈥榣ost鈥� off screen at about 270 miles. Later they reached 32000 ft. and 295 miles. We thought they would have reached the general area but would not have had the accuracy of 17 yards which we could set up on the screen. We had any mile from 10 to 320 miles spread over a 10 inch chart marked off in 1/10 inch, so the target was set up to two places of decimals, 1/100 of 1760yards = 17.6 yards. This was the precursor to accurate bombing of targets in Iraq in the first Gulf War using satellites for navigation.

In the two days before the German surrender some airmen were given leave to return to Baccarat where we had made many friends. We were welcomed with open arms and on VE day the town鈥檚 feeling of joy at being free, erupted. A young people鈥檚 party was organised that night and as so many men had been called away, the RAF men had very easy tasks at finding partners!!

Before being posted back to Mons, I and one other airman won a draw for 48 hours leave to Paris. We went from Strasbourg station on a troop train, hastily put together, I guess. I found I had a seat next to the platform only to find there was no door to the compartment!! We arrived in Paris after an uneventful night at 6 am and had to leave by 8am 48 hours later. We caught a civilian train back. Soon after arriving back in Mutzig, I returned to Mons for further duties.

May 鈥�45 While at Mons, I was asked to organise a course for airmen wishing to improve their studies for civilian life. Having done well in maths at school, I took the maths course. The main snag was the wide range of abilities throughout the 60 or so airmen applying. I wrote a 60 question paper ranging from very easy addition to more complex algebra, and had a gratifying response.

In June 鈥�45 in order to qualify as a teacher of Maths I was sent to Cosford for a two week course, on completion, I was allowed some time to see my wife before I returned to Mons to take up my teaching post. However 60 group at Mons had other ideas and I was posted to Rheims, to to take up a position on the main Rheims Gee chain, which had had been hastily set up to aid the return of troops by air from the Marseilles area. The area where troops from North Africa had been assembled
The Gee Train was a series of three slave RADAR stations providing specific pulses at a variety of very specific intervals, giving time/distance intervals from the master station so the planes navigator could identify his position on a specially prepared map. The map was a standard ordinance map of the area overprinted in red, blue and green lines running continuously rather like contour lines. I believe the G. chain was used extensively for navigation for at least 10 years after the war ended.

July 鈥�46
After a year at Rheims, I qualified for release. Despite being only 100 miles from Calais with a reasonable train service by then, I was routed by lorry to Cuxhaven, by sea to Newcastle, then special train to Henesford Staffordshire for the demob unit. After 24 hours I was demobbed with my special civilian suit (it fitted quite well) and I was sent via Oxford for a train to Loughborough where I arrived at midnight in the 2nd weekend in July 1946.

My wife and I had a 2 month holiday. I rejoined my office on 12 September 鈥�46 exactly five years after joining up.

I rejoined the Government office which is now called the 鈥淣ational Audit Office鈥�. It was strange that my service relating to RADAR theories etc. provided me with considerable background when auditing secret work on two occasions, during the course of my career.

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