Some Memories of Microwave Troop, 19 Signal Regiment – 1969 to 1971
By Bob Foskett
In the summer of 1969 I was just coming up to completing four years at 3 Division HQ & Signal Regiment housed in Carter Barracks, Bulford Camp on the less than delightful Salisbury Plain. With my fiancée, Rita, I was planning a July wedding and requested a six month extension to my stay at the regiment. The reply from Royal Signals Records was that I was to be inducted on the Ristacomm Project with a view to being posted to 19 Signal Regiment – who says that the administrators at RS Records don’t have a sense of humour? The upside of this was that instead of doing my bit to prepare for the wedding I spent the last six weeks before the big event at the TTS, 8th Signal Regiment, Catterick being trained by Bill Johnson, Les McNeil and Jock Ross.
The wedding went very well and within ten days myself and my new wife were on a VC10 bound for Singapore via Bahrain and Gan Island. We timed our arrival at the time of 150th anniversary of the founding of Singapore by Raffles so there no family accommodation available. Luckily we were met by an old buddy, Joe Croome, who said that rather than staying in a chalet (shed!) at The China Sea Beach Club we could stay with him. After a week things quietened down and we moved to the Cameron Hotel on The Upper Changi Road – the usual spot of arriving families at Changi. I spent the first few weeks with 19 SR mainly at Chin Bee (if I remember correctly), a pretty well redundant station on the large microwave (SHF) network – perhaps they were trying to keep me out of harm’s way? I was waiting to travel to RAF Western Hill, Penang but flights were impossible to get so in the end Rita and I accompanied Pete and Pam Thomas on the long train ride up to Butterworth via Kuala Lumpur – the train ride was longer than the flights out from the UK!
The microwave site at Western Hill served the RAF Air Defence System situated in the highest part of the island and provided communications (both voice and data) across to the Royal Australian Air Force at Butterworth. Western Hill was at the northern end of a Tropospheric Scatter link to Bukit Timah on Singapore. This turn linked into the large microwave network. Working at Western Hill was certainly unusual in that the transport to work was by a funicular railway, there being no road up onto the plateau. The railway is still operating but with new swish coaches; the old wooden runs that we used to ride are now a museum exhibit! Although the station was closed at the end of 1972 “The Hill” remains a great tourist attraction. The radar site was also visited at the weekends when things were quiet by band of gibbons that seemed to like the vines growing by the perimeter fence.
Very little seemed to happen at the microwave station – a lot like “sleepy hollow” at times. The SHF, carrier telephony and telegraphy equipment worked very well, particularly if left alone. The RAF didn’t mess with our little section preferring to leave us to our weird “Pongo” ways. On one occasion they did request that we join a parade to welcome some Air Marshall or other. With great presence of mind Gordon McInnis, section leader, demanded that, being senior to the RAF, we should parade “right of line”. He also pointed out that Army drill was incompatible with RAF drill (shuffling). We weren’t asked again.
We had no sooner settled into our new home when Gordon told me that I was to return to Catterick for a Class 1 Technician course. So, after only three months Rita and I were back on a VC10 bound for the UK and Catterick. Can you see the RS Records Office sense of humour again?
After six months, is was time for another trip on a VC10 and the return to Penang and Western Hill. Having six months doing totally unrelated work didn’t help my rehabilitation back in Microwave Troop. Things hadn’t changed to much at all with just the occasional fault to tax our brains. The Record of Events diary had few entries apart from shift changes. On one occasion Phil Kingham was to change a modulator panel in the evening when the RAAF weren’t flying their Mirages. The entries went like this:-
19:15 B path switched off and panel change commenced by PK
19:50 Panel change complete
19:55 B path switched on
19:56 Fire! Fire! Fire!
Mostly thought life was lived at quite a gentle pace, really. The small member of the Microwave Troop section made a disproportional contribution to the sporting teams of RAF Western Hill. I particularly enjoyed my Rugby there particularly when getting one over on the Ozzies. The New Zealand Infantry Regiment, who provided ground defence, were a whole different proposition, of course! I still have the scars.
Names are hard to remember but the Tropo equipemt was the preserve of Joe Winter and John (I think) Rutherford. Other names at either Western Hill or Burtterworth were John (?) Oakley, Ken Durrant, Mick Burney, Harry Norrie, Chris Mills. Pete Thomas and Harry (?) Drennan. The latter was the liney supremo – keeper of the frame! There were other of course but I recollect any more names. Maybe the names will come to at about 3 a.m. one night – most things do. During one bad evening storn lightening shot across the room and blasted the frame. Not only that but it knocked off the mains. Being a bit of a milliamps type I wasn’t too confident with big amps mains. After a while I traced the problem to a 60 Amp fuse – scary stuff for me. As I pushed in the replacement fuse the explosion blew my hand back to the wall behind. Obviously the mains stabilizer was duff. I had no choice to call out the MPBW so a special train was laid on and a Chinese specialist was transported through the storm from the top station. He listened patiently (dressed from head to fort in soaking oil-skins) as I explained the problem, then reached up, rotated a large switch through 180 degrees, switching the reserve stabilizer in and bringing the lights on! He said something in untranslatable Chinese before leaving for the train back down the hill. Still he will have claimed a call-out charge – pity he didn’t thank me for that eh?
As the decommissioning started at Western Hill in preparation for the withdrawal from the Far East at the end of 1971 I despatched down to Changi to help with the handover of the microwave network to the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). For me, it was a massive shock to the system. Much like someone going from a bank branch in the Yorkshire Dales to the Trading Floor in the City of London I reckon. I was way out of my depth but as is always the case with the Corps there were a great set of folks to help me through the ordeal …. or just plain cover for me! The complement of the Troop was diminishing rapidly during the last three months of the UK’s presence. Still a few of managed to turn out for the ANZUK Support Group’s Rugby team between very tense stints at Changi Control.
I think I was the last but one Microwave Trooper to fly home. I think that WO 1 (FoS) George Yates was the last. I enjoyed my time with 19 SR very much – who wouldn’t? The camaraderie of the Corps members was second to none – absolutely none. I met some first class COs in Lt Colonels Thursby-Pelham and Gilbert, some great ToTs and Foremen, very gentlemanly Locally Employed Personnel and above all a bunch of first class technicians – all were a credit to the Royal Corps of Signals. Would I do it all again? In a heart-beat!
Memory fades of course so it is will some difficulty that I try to remember all of the staff at Butterworth. I managed to get some more information from Bob Williamson The site was run by a Sergeant, Joe Oakley and it was staffed much like the Microwavers on Western Hill at the other end of the link – a detachment of Microwave Troop The singlies were barracked at RAF Glugor with the scalies (married with accompanying family) housed on Pilau Pinang/Penang Island. For them it was a daily ferry road over to the mainland rather than the ride on the Penang Hill Railway. The names that I remember from those days are Bob Williamson, Pete Thomas, Ken Durant and Mick Birney. Bob also remembers Ginge Cook and Ian Howie. I only went over to Butterworth on very rare occasions but I do remember the Malaysian Coke Man greeting everyone there with a very Australian “G-day Myte”. One of the guys over there Brian Etheridge managed to beat all of the single RAFers and marry the SWO-man’s daughter, Chris Craig, much to the chagrin of the Boys in Blue – another great result for the Corps! Bob married the lovely, Molly and now lives in retirement back on Penang Island.
