AOCs 1979 - Inspecting Officer - Sqn Ldr Peter Batchelor!

It was logical that senior visitors tended to schedule their visits to Saxa Vord during the summer months. The simmer dim and the reduced chances of travel disruption were obviously attractive. However, from the point of view of those posted to Saxa, it sometimes caused a little resentment – those who were making decisions about the conditions on base usually missed the extreme bad weather and frequent difficulties of travelling to and from Unst experienced by mere mortals.

Occasionally the unpredictable elements intervened. When the Queen and Prince Philip visited in August 1960 it was a wet and windy day. Again, when Prince Philip came to open the new Quarters at SHE in May 1995 the weather was pretty miserable.

In the spring and early summer of 1979 the camp was subjected to its usual clean-up and paint job prior to the expected AOC’s inspection, scheduled for the 6th June. Plenty of parade rehearsals took place and, just before the planned event, part of the RAF Kinloss Pipe Band arrived. Then nature took a hand – fortunately or unfortunately (dependent upon one’s perspective), bad weather intervened and the Inspection was cancelled at short notice.

The CO, Sqn Ldr Peter Batchelor, decided to inspect the Guard of Honour himself. Then, I expect, everyone headed for the nearest bar. The photos below show the CO carrying out the Inspection, the CO outside the Officers’ Mess being entertained by the RAF Kinloss Pipe Band (I’m sure that’s a fruit juice Sqn Ldr Batchelor is drinking!) and the last shows the award of a commendation which I presume would have been done by the AOC if he had arrived. (Left click on pictures to enlarge).

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Saxa - Groups & Bands - Mid 60's/Early 70's (amended 1 Oct 14)

Usually there were enough musicians on strength at Saxa to form a group on the Base. Obviously their abilities ranged from excellent to not so excellent, but for most of the time there were a number of competent musicians capable of playing at Dances on the camp and often further afield. With the nature of the RAF posting system a particular group could have a number of different members over a period of time. In the same way, an individual extending his tour length or returning for a second tour could end up playing in more than one band.

I wrote about “The Hustlers” (1962 to 64) one of Saxa's early groups earlier :  http://ahistoryofrafsaxavord.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/hustlers.html   and  a more extended piece here: http://ahistoryofrafsaxavord.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-hustlers-saxa-1962-to-1964.html
In this section I intend to publish the information I have about the mid sixties and early seventies. I’m grateful to Andy Parkinson (Supplier, Saxa 68 to 70) for information and photos on the groups “Plesance Fogg” and the “John Baker Big Band”. The rest of the pictures came from my wife and my late father-in-law.

Pleasance Fogg & The John Baker Big Band.
The following text & pictures came in emails from Andy Parkinson:-
"When I arrived at Saxa I reported to the guard room and was greeted with "You must be the new bass guitarist" and was immediately inducted into a group consisting of Rod Stevens guitar, Dave McBain Guitar/vocals and myself on bass/vocals. I can't remember who the drummer was possibly a clerk called Les ?. The band was called "Plesance Fogg" (very hippy like Canned Heat). When Dave left big Bll Gibb stepped into the breach on lead guitar, flute, saxophone and clarinet.

With the arrival of Sgt John Baker the band took on a different look with a budding brass section. The addition of another lead guitar in Gwyn (Taff) Williams and yet another change of drummer to Ernie Perridge, the trombone of Malcom Browne and trumpeters Jimmy Green and An other, the name changed to "The John Baker Big Band" . Still going strong when I left. Sadly I have since learned that John Baker has passed away. He was a very good musician and taught us youngsters a great deal.”

Plesance Fogg and the John Baker Big Band definitely made favourable impressions making numerous appearances in the NAAFI, Sergeants’ and Officers’ Messes. Not only that but they played in the Public Halls, Springfield, Mid Yell and even played in Lerwick at one of the Halls in Shetlands main Up Helly Aa Festival.

Other Bands
A band called "The Embers" was formed in late1965. It consisted of Doug Slade (lead guitar). Rod Paton (rhythm guitar and singer), Tony Reid (bass and lead singer) and Dave Truman (drums). Doug and Dave were both medics, whilst Tony and Rod worked in Stores.  Doug was the first to leave - posted to Wegberg in June '66 and I don't know if they recruited another lead guitarist. The group managed to achieve a lot in their time together with a repertoire around 40 tunes including:

Money (that's what I want)

Wanna Be Your Man

Wild Thing

Bring it on Home

Route 66

Saw Her Standing There

Sloop John B

Save The Last Dance

It's all Over Now

Last Time

Satisfaction

Get off My Cloud

Hang On Sloopy

House of Rising Sun

Gloria

Keep on Running

 

They played mostly on the base but were booked for a couple of the local halls and had an overland trip to perform in the Planets Ballroom in Lerwick. The pictures below were taken at a Christmas function in 1965. I'm grateful to Doug and Rod for their help.

 

When I arrived at Saxa there was a camp band was called the “Six-Sided Sound” but I know little about the Group. During the period 1967-69 the bands I came into contact with on the base seemed to be ad hoc gatherings of musicians. One of those musicians had a very nice Fender Jaguar guitar (so I obviously had to marry her!) - two pictures below:-

In the period  1971 to 74 there was a group on the Station called Mutley with Tom Worthington, Jim Storrie and Phil Baker. With the departure of Phil Baker the line up changed to Tom Worthington on guitar, Jim Storrie on drums and vocals and Francis Hunter was added on Bass. The name changed to simply Tom, Jim & Francis. This is the line up seen in the next photo.

I have Little  information about the group in the picture below - I believe it was about 1964/5 and probably taken in one of the local halls, The drummer was Jimmy Hopkins and the bassist was Bob Sunter if anyone can supply the remaining name or any other information about this group – or indeed any others from Saxa. My email address:-

gordon.carleATgmail.com (replace the AT with the normal symbol)

 

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What goes up must come down – Demolition of the Type 80 Radome

In the years 1976 to 1979 the top of Saxa Vord was a construction site. New radars and buildings were erected as part of a complete rebuild and I hope to complete a section about this upheaval at a later date. One item to disappear forever was the Type 8o Radome, which had been erected in 1963. (Left click on pictures to enlarge).

Whilst this work was going on the S259 was deployed to provide operational cover.

The following 3 pictures show the work on dismantling the Radome:-

The last picture shows what the hill looked like in November 1979 after the T80 Radome had gone.

 

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"Memories of Saxa Vord"

When Units close most historical items end up in central MOD repositories (if they don’t end up in the local skip). The last CO of Saxa Vord had the foresight to arrange for a significant amount of unclassified material to be left on Unst (not only that but he went through  the proper processes to have some material declassified to add to the “archive”). The thought was that a local display could be organised to show these mementoes and that this might act as a small help in encouraging visitors to Unst. The RAF pull-out would have a devastating effect on the local economy and anything which would help the tourist industry would be a welcome bonus.

For various reasons (lack of money and a suitable venue being the 2 most obvious), nothing happened for 4 years. Recently however, there have been welcome developments.

Some of the items have now been put on display in the old Station Medical Centre. Aaron & Cassie Foord, the owners of Foords Chocolate have set up their business in the old SMC and have undertaken to exhibit a number of items from the base – including the Red Star Board – they have titled their display “Memories of Saxa Vord”

Not only that but they have decided to produce a gallery with pictures of personnel who have served on the camp over the years. They would be pleased to hear from anyone who did a tour at Saxa and would like to have their photo added to the display:

The display will be opened officially in the next few weeks; however, the items are already on view to visitors.  I was on Unst last week and had a look around at the exhibits and can strongly recommend it as a place to call at for those visiting Shetland, especially as entry is free! (I must add that I have no financial interest in Foords Chocolates). 

I have attached a few pictures of the displays as they were last week. (Left click on pictures to enlarge).

 

A link to Foords Chocolates: http://www.foordschocolates.co.uk/

The rest of the material has been taken to the Unst Heritage Centre (in the old Haroldswick School) but is not available to the public yet. In the future it is hoped to mount periodic displays there.

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Visit of the Lord Lieutenant of Shetland, Mr JH Scott in 1998

In June 1998 the Lord Lieutenant of Shetland, John H Scott, visited the station to present some medals and awards.

One of the historical hangovers, not appreciated by many stationed at Saxa, is the situation regarding land ownership in many parts of the Highlands & Islands. Certainly a large part of Shetland is owned by a few families. The Scott family estates include part of the Shetland Mainland, Bressay, Noss and a significant part of Unst. A handful of families own most of Unst. John Scott is the father of Tavish Scott, who is currently the leader of the Liberal Democrat Party in Scotland. Photos of the presentations follow. (Left click on pictures to enlarge). 

 

 

A group photo showing all recipients, the Lord Lieutenant and the CO Sqn Ldr Jones is below:-

 

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Erection of the Type 80 Radome (Updated 10 Jan 15)

Following the bad gales at end of Jan 1961 it was decided that the Type 80 should be provided with a radome to protect it from the weather. Work on this began in early 1963. Obviously this meant that the Type 80 was off the air for a large part of the year.

The Type 14 was in use as a replacement and, although the performance was greatly reduced, the station stayed operational for most of the time. The Unit was involved in an incident towards the end of June 63 when assistance was requested by HM Coastguards who were trying to locate an overdue Norwegian ship – the Nesbakk, M-992-G. The ship was detected  on radar over 40 miles north-east of the site. An RAF aircraft and a surface vessel were directed to the vessel which had broken down. Eventually a Norwegian rescue ship took the Nesbakk under tow and escorted her safely to Alesund in Norway.

A  Norwegian firm was engaged as the main contractor but a number of local firms and people were involved in the construction. The first photo, taken from the air, shows the site at an early stage. The hut used by the contractors are marked with an arrow on the left-hand side of the picture. (Left click on photos to enlarge).

  The next sequence of pictures shows the progress of the building as shown in official photos.

 

 

 

 

 

As I said earlier, a number of local folk were employed on the project. One of them was Bryan Edwardson and I'm grateful to Bryan and his wife Beth for allowing me to use the next three photos:

The construction of the radome was completed on 25 Aug 63 and Flight Trials, which were held shortly afterwards, confirmed that the dome had very little effect on the radars performance. However, soon afterwards there were severe gales which damaged a number of the radome panels and the radar had to be taken off the air from 20 Sep 63. The Norwegian contractors had to be recalled to repair the radome and, once again, some local people helped finish the job. The gales also delayed the painting of the structure.  The next image shows where a couple of panels have been blown out and, workers can be seen scaling the ladder on the right-hand-side of the radome.

The Type 80 had to be kept off the air until 13 November whilst these problems were rectified.  An image of the completed, newly-painted radome in 1963,  is below:

 

For the outsider it is hard to envisage the scale of work involved but for the next 15 years the 90 ft circumference radome was home to the 18 ½ ton, 75 ft wide Type 80 scanner assembly. Two photos, taken inside the radome, follow:

 

Although the structure was eventually demolished and replaced, it was the first "golf ball" on Saxa and became a memorable landmark.

As the Unit was to confirm in the early 90's  – radomes don’t offer total protection from the Shetland climate!

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