I am
grateful to David Smith, who wrote most if this section years ago under the
nom-de-plume "Blue Silk". Numerous photos have been added but David
took most of them himself. Not only was he in Unst in 1978 when Shetland Radar
started but, he was sent north a few weeks earlier to meet representatives of
the Helicopter Companies and to begin
arranging the operational procedures which were to be used by the Unit.
You may remember that
in the nineteen seventies the North Sea oil fields were becoming extremely busy
with an astonishing number of oil rigs being put in position and being served
by a quite remarkable fleet of helicopters. The primary operators were British
Airways Helicopters and Bristows and the main bases in the north North Sea area
were Aberdeen and Sumburgh in the Shetlands.
It was becoming very
clear that a system was urgently required to keep the helicopters apart when flying
to and from the rigs. A growing number of Airmiss reports were being filed,
meaning the crews were coming too close to each other when in flight, (today
these reports are called Airprox). Quite clearly something needed doing to aid
flight safety, even though there were those who thought some of these airmiss
reports were being filed simply to get something done.
The scenario was that
the oil rig workers, we called them oily boys, were flown to Aberdeen or
Sumburgh by fixed wing and then ferried out to the relevant rig by choppers.
Weather obviously played a big part in governing when the flights could take
place. In the late seventies there was no GPS and by today's standards
navigation equipment was rudimentary, though crews of that era were very
skilled in the use of what was available. Apart from aircraft lights and voice
communication there was no anti-collision equipment installed either.
I left Heathrow in a
British Airways BAC1-11, which could carry about 90 passengers, and landed at Aberdeen an hour later
From there I went on northwards in a British Airways Hawker Siddley748 (twin
turbo prop and approximately 50 passengers). to Sumburgh
and from there north again in a Loganair Islander (twin piston, 10 seats).
That last part was an
introduction to the Shetlands with strong winds and much turbulence. We landed
on the tiny airstrip on Unst to be met by a Land Rover which took me the short
distance to RAF Saxa Vord. Saxa Vord was dominated by a hill around 1000 feet
high, on top of which was a radar site manned by fighter controllers.
Their job was to keep
a look out for Cold War aircraft sneaking round the Norwegian North Cape to
test our defences and to control our fighters when in the Saxa radar cover. I
think they were a bit miffed when they found out what I was up to and others
would shortly follow but as they were trained to keep aircraft together and we
wanted to keep them apart........... eventually we got along all right.
Having looked at the
radar site there did not seem too much of a problem once we got some procedures
sorted out, so the next step was to go down to Sumburgh to talk to the
companies. Loganair took me back down and it was evident that both helicopter
companies were very pleased to see me and we began planning what we might be
able achieve.
If I remember
correctly, it took about 3 weeks to come up with a radial system emanating from
Sumburgh and Aberdeen and going out to the rigs. We decided that certain
radials would be used for outbound and certain others for inbound. The chopper
pilots were happy they could fly along these radials using the Decca navigator
fitted to the aircraft. We also arranged
different altitudes for outbounds and inbounds. We all decided that the system
would commence on a Monday. The date was fixed as 2nd October 1978,
and the first choppers would start calling at 0800. By this time 3 RAF
controllers had arrived and having briefed them as much as I could we waited
for the onslaught The following photo was taken just before we officially
opened and it shows the first 3 controllers and four assistants to arrive at
Shetland Radar - my memory for names is poor, so if anyone can help out it
would be appreciated.
By 0802 we had choppers calling from all over
the place, all knowing exactly what they were doing and where they were going,
whilst we had no idea where the rigs were, apart from being X miles out. The
Brent Bravo, Ninian, and Thistle along with lots more meant nothing to us at
the time, especially when the call was "just lifting from such and such
rig inbound" and not really knowing which part of the screen to watch as well
as keeping an eye open for all the other choppers on frequency. Clearly more
research was required!
We then consulted a
large map showing the position of all
the rigs plus the accommodation platforms, as they were called. I was amazed at
how many there were. A chat with the two companies then produced an invite to
go and fly with them to see the rigs, the decision to go took all of a second! I
went down to Sumburgh again courtesy of the Loganair Islander for a couple of
days to see operations from their side. I failed to see the fun in driving down
which required 2 ferries I think to get from Unst via the island of Yell and
onto Mainland. Took hours, we tried it once at a weekend to go see the sights
of Lerwick.
I sat in the jump
seat of the SK61 of British Airways with about 26 chaps behind me, all decked
out in immersion suits and Mae Wests. I was faintly amused and a bit nervous
that the 2 pilots and yours truly had our respective uniforms on and that was
it.
I think the rig I
visited was the Brent Bravo which I thought was absolutely enormous and the
heat from the flare burning off unwanted gas could be felt from some distance
as we approached.
The deal reached by
the companies was that the choppers would fly throughout the day, not stopping
for lunch, and would be fed from the rigs with take away boxes. The food provided was
superb and I was told the rules on the rigs were no alcohol, no females and top
grade food.(I am told the first and last still apply but now there are females
among the crew). Two photos from a rig helicopter platform are below:-
Later on I flew
several times with BA and a few times with Bristows, who were operating Pumas,
taking 16 on board. The Bristow’s crews all wore immersion suits as did the
passengers behind them - I decided it was not the thing to do to ask why the BA
crews did not!
A few weeks after I
arrived at Saxa two more Air Traffic Controllers joined us. Flight Lieutenant
Bill Cooper was posted in from Eastern Radar as the first Commanding Officer of
Shetland Radar on 26 Oct 78. The other, I believe a first for the Unit, was a
single female officer called Ticia Brewster, who arrived from Midland Radar. I collected her from the Loganair Islander when she arrived on Unst and
I took her back to the strip when she left sometime in January.
I believe some of the young, single male officers
were quite excited by the prospects of meeting the new living-in member of the
Officer' Mess and there was a run on Brut in the NAAFI. Ardour dimmed when it
was discovered that the young lady was already engaged to a serving officer!
A few times the
weather was such that the choppers could fly but it was below limits for the
fixed wing aircraft to ferry the off going workers south from Shetland. One
such time, when I was staying at the only hotel at Sumburgh, the hotel was
overrun with the oily boys wanting to head south with no aircraft able to operate.
In those days they were paid in cash, lots of cash, and the hotel ran out of every
type of alcoholic drink they had!
Around Christmas time
when the snow was thick on the ground, the only way up the hill to the radar
site was by three ton truck, even the Land Rovers were banned from trying. The
next 3 photos show the wintry conditions experienced:-
One weekend I was at
the top site on a Saturday. I watched the snow falling heavily and then saw clearing
skies revealing a blue cloudless scenario. I was thinking that I and the other
3 at Shetrad were stuck for the weekend - there was too much snow to attempt to
drive down. We were talking to the last Bristows chopper inbound to Sumburgh
who was about 20 miles north of us and the pilot said he was quite happy and that
we could close down for the weekend and get off to the bar. When we told him we
were stuck he came back with “ do you want a lift down”. How long did it take
to say yes please, about a nano second I should think. I told my chaps to close
down and get outside quickly, which we did in time to see this lovely great big
chopper (S61) come clattering towards us and touching down a few feet from us.
We scrambled aboard and were deposited at the foot of the hill just by the
guard room about 2 minutes later.
The amusing sequel
was that the chopper dropped us in the C.O.s garden damaging some of his veg,
but which were hidden under the snow. The fighter controllers were again a bit
miffed but I remember the C.O. was placated in the bar with a couple of bevvies
and we all stayed friends.
Our
off-duty time was made more enjoyable by the purchase of an old Bedford
Dormobile, nicknamed "Gertie", which was used as a runabout.
"Gertie" made the trip to the Springfield (Baltasound Hotel) about
once a week and, occasionally, made the journey to Lerwick and back Our wheels can be seen nearest the camera,
covered in snow, in the next photo:-
John Larby and I went on the
odd fishing trip and on one occasion he got tangled up with a whacking great
herring gull which pecked him, broke the skin, drew blood etc. Off we went to
the Doc. And when I asked if John needed a tetanus jab he replied “ no but the
gull might”. Sometimes we managed to do a little exploring. The next three
pictures show one such trip - the first taken on "the Floggie", a
steep hill leading from Norwick to Lambaness. The second shows the south side
of the headland of Lambaness, with a Fulmar flying past. The third picture is
of the approach to Skaw and, what was, the most northerly inhabited dwelling in
the UK.
There were a few warmer days
when I was able to meet some of Shetlands' most famous residents. The next
picture was taken near the Domestic Site and shows me with some Shetland
ponies:
There were also many sheep
on Unst and in this photo the road to the radar site can be seen on the
right-hand side of the picture:
Just before Christmas 1978
the RAF held a party in the Airman's Mess for local folk. I believe that 168
attended and an astonishing amount of booze was consumed, especially whisky.
Eventually the RAF buses arrived at about 01.00 to take everyone home and, as
the guests were leaving, I received an unusual request from one of the RAF
wives - “David, can I stand behind you, please”. On investigation it transpired
she was trying to avoid one of the old gentlemen who was kissing the girls and
fondling them where he shouldn’t at the same time! Apparently he was about 80
years old and I remember wondering if I could get away with that if and when I got
to 80. Not there yet, so still wondering!
I remained at Saxa until the
February '79 and enjoyed the experience immensely - happy days.
Two earlier sections about Shetland Radar can be found by following these links:
http://ahistoryofrafsaxavord.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/shetland-radar-part-2.html
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