大象传媒

Life in anti-aircraft radar had its lighter as well as its terrifying moments. During one alert in Edinburgh I had to send one of my operators for something or other. Ever willing he opened the door of the radar cabin and stepped out into the pitch black night with a wild cry. He fell to earth about 5 feet and fortunately was only shaken as the ground was soft. This happened because the cabin rotated on a trailer and the door was only aligned with the entry ladder in one position and we weren't in it.

On another occasion the cabin suddenly refused to rotate beyond a certain point in a very determined way. Investigation revealed that a large cow had decided to bed down beside the radar cabin. Moving her in the dark was no easy matter.

A decidedly unfunny episode was taking bearings on an approaching raid on Aberdeen which showed that the attackers were making directly for us. Luckily for us they had more important aims than our gunsite.

Equally startling, I had been in a train bringing me to Aberdeen and when I reached my camp on the tram from Aberdeen station the searchlight on the site was probing the heavens. I airily assured the anxious tram conductor as I alighted that it was only a practice not having heard the air raid alarm which had been given whilst I was in the train. A few moments later as I was reporting to the Guard Commander a series of violent explosions occurred, one after another. When I had counted to six I asked the Guard commander how many bombs there were in a stick, this was the last so no answer was needed.

Our searchlight was put out of action and the neighbouring cemetery suffered some unanticipated exhumations, but no-one was hurt. The bomb aiming was very accurate, so much for my confident assurance to the conductor.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.