Dave Childs did his National Service from Mar '57 to Mar '59. He spent the first few months at RAF Hopton
in Norfolk and the last 17 months of his RAF time at Saxa Vord. This means he
would have arrived on Unst in the early autumn, before the station was declared operational.
He had opted to serve in the RAF Police. It is worth noting that the MOD
civilian police took over from the RAF
police at Saxa in the early 60's and controlled access to the classified sites
for 21 years before the RAF police resumed their duties in Dec '85 His journey
to Unst was not unusual for those days, a trip by rail to Aberdeen then an
overnight passage to Lerwick on board the St Clair (1,641 tons) , (Left click on pictures to enlarge):
The voyage from Aberdeen was fairly rough and Dave suffered
from sea sickness. He was relieved when he stood on deck as they arrived at the
harbour in Lerwick. Then someone pointed out the Earl of Zetland, to which they
would be transferring for the continuation of their journey. The Earl, at 548
tons, was a much smaller vessel and Dave's stomach remembered it wasn't happy!
Fortunately the Earl didn't stray too
far from land and they safely arrived in Unst after 8 more hours at sea. Dave
enjoyed his time on Unst and his travels were not always unpleasant: "
"I have fond memories of my time on Unst,
and eventually after a number of periods of leave, became a good sailor.
My experiences include seeing the Northern Lights, and also the midnight
sun at the height of summer. Less enjoyable were the winds which at times
exceeded 100 miles per hour on the top of Saxa Vord Hill, and on one occasion
in particular caused snowdrifts that reached the top of the perimeter fence in
places. In the worse weather the road up to the top site would become too
difficult and it was not unusual on those occasions to work a double shift.
There was one occasion when going on leave, that the bad weather
prevented the Earl of Zetland from berthing at Baltasound and we had to go out
into the bay in a small boat and jump aboard the ferry as the waves brought the
boats level in what was probably a six foot swell. Talking of Baltasound,
I believe at the time, the Hotel there was the only one on Unst. I think it
was either the first night or perhaps the second that three of us decided to
walk to the Hotel for a beer or two.
It was daylight when we left the camp but when
we came to leave the Hotel to return ,it was dark, and my, how dark is dark.
We had only consumed a couple of beers, or perhaps three, but were quite
sober. However we hadn't realised how difficult it is to see your way when
there is no moon and no street lights of any sort. We eventually made it
back to camp but had to virtually feel our way along the road.
There was not a great deal of opportunity for
recreation although we did quite a lot of walking to explore the island and
some fishing in Norwick Bay were the mackerel were plentiful.
also recall seeing that colourful bird, the
Puffin, for the first time, and was quite amused by its appearance.
I took an interest in Basketball and
represented Saxa Vord in a match against a team in Lerwick, which we won. I
can't recall the final score, but I scored two baskets. We also played
football, but in those days it was difficult to find an area big enough and
level enough for a decent pitch. I also recall in the summer of 1958, a
sports day was organised and I was part of an RAF Tug of War team who managed
to beat a team of islanders, two to one. I still have the medal."
Dave
was actually the RAF anchor man and a picture of his medal is below:
The RAF Police were responsible for manning
the guardroom in the Operation Block (Known as the R10). Control of access was particularly
important as some of the RAF Equipment and procedures were highly classified
and because entry also enabled entrance to
the Admiralty buildings. During 1957/58 a number of classified naval exercises
and trials occurred, such as Exercise THERMOSTAT IV. The next picture shows
Dave, together with a Land Rover, outside the Ops Site Guard Post:
By coincidence, the late Ray "Dickie"
Dawson sent me a picture of the same vehicle aboard the SS St Clair showing it
being delivered to Shetland:
Another Policeman, at Saxa Vord at the same
time as Dave, was a chap by the name of Moss Bilson. The next photo shows Moss (bare-chested)and
Dave on the shore at Norwick:
The following picture, also taken at Norwick,
shows Dave swimming in the sea, without the aid of a wet suit!:
Another recollection from Dave: "One
other incident I recall that occurred during my time there was the arrival of a
Russian Fishing Fleet just off Muckle Flugga which caused some consternation.
I photographed what was described as the "Mother/Parent" Ship
which for a few days had stationed itself only a short distance to the north,
no doubt engaged in some spying activity on NATO's defence system. Over the life of
RAF Saxa Vord Soviet vessels showed a great interest in the Station! The
picture of a Russian Fishing Fleet north of Unst was taken by Rod Pye a few
years later:
And the next, from David Goodall, shows 2 Russians
in Burrafirth below the Saxa Ops Site:
I'd like to thank Dave for sharing his
reminiscences and to encourage anyone else with material from the early days of
Saxa Vord to get in touch: gordon.carle(AT)gmail.com
NOTE - AOC's Inspection
1988
With the kind permission of the Station Photographer of the
time, Andrew Thorpe, a number of excellent pictures have been added to the previously
released article about the AOC's Inspection in 1988:- http://ahistoryofrafsaxavord.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/aocs-inspection-1988-avm-rh-palin.html
CONTENTS LIST
http://ahistoryofrafsaxavord.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/contents-list.html
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