Red Hawk Rising

our purposes, sir.”
“Good. I’ll hand you over to Senior Tech Thompson. He’ll introduce you to the members of this section. We’re billeted at RAF Ouston, on the western outskirts of Newcastle. It’s a bit of a run but the alternative was the Fenham Barracks of the RNF — and that doesn’t appeal. Don’t upset the electricians of this company. We’ve had a lot of trouble with them. Their leaders are all sympathisers of the Communist Party, if not members.”
Andy nodded and replied, “I’ll take care, sir.”
Goodhew picked up the ‘phone and dialled Senior Tech Thompson. After putting the ‘phone down he said to Andy, “If you turn right as you go out of this office and head down the corridor, Senior Tech Thompson will meet you there.” Andy got up, saluted and left the office. A tall, rangy senior tech came out of a lab. and waved to Andy. As they met, he shook hands and said, “Call me ‘Sarge’. It’s a lot easier.” Andy nodded agreement and followed him back into the lab. where both RAF and civilian personnel were at work on a module of the radar unit. “Grab a stool and watch and listen. We’ll sit down with some schematics a little later.” With that, Andy found a stool to sit on and Sarge Thompson went back to the task in hand. Over his shoulder he said to Andy, “We’re calibrating this unit and it’s a bit tricky so bear with us.” Andy got out his notepad and jotted names and comments from the conversations. There was Corporal Technician Lance Williams and Corporal Dan Brennan working on the module, along with a couple of Wensley Electronics staff and a ‘boffin’ from Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough. The module contained the klystron, one of the most sensitive parts from the security aspect. It was a key factor in the amazing sensitivity of the radar in detecting an aircraft despite electronic counter measures being used to hide the aircraft’s approach. Suddenly, a circuit card failed and they switched over to the duplicate. Dan Brennan removed the faulty card and slid the tray back into place and locked it in. He went over to shelving, holding the spare parts to get a replacement card. There wasn’t one there. Puzzled, he went over to the stock cards for items held in the laboratory to see whether he had been mistaken. The stock record showed that there should have been a spare circuit card. “Hey, Sarge, that spare card is missing. It’s on the record as being here but there’s no sign of it.”
“Let’s finish this, Corp, and then we’ll have a good look for the missing part,” replied Sarge Thompson. Andy looked on with interest.
It took another twenty minutes to finish the calibrating. “Corporal Hill, start with this manual while I help look for the missing card,” said Sarge as he handed Andy the manual. He and Corporal Brennan and one of the Wensley Electronics staff started checking the spare parts on the shelves. Not finding the missing card on the shelves they checked all the other possible places in the laboratory without success.
“What happens now?” Andy asked Sarge.
“We’ll order another one from the warehouse and notify them that one has gone missing. The trouble is, this is the third time in the last two weeks,” was the reply. The Wensley staffer didn’t seem bothered by this, as though it was a common thing in the factory.
“Were they all different parts?” asked Andy.
“I’m pretty sure they were,” chimed in Corporal Brennan.
“Nothing we can do about it now,” said Sarge, looking at the other RAF guys as if to say, ‘Drop the matter until we can talk privately’. Looking at his watch, Sarge said to the ‘boffin’, “Do you want to do any more today?”
The boffin shook his head. “No, let’s pack up for the day. I think I’ll take tomorrow off and be back in on Monday. What about your team, Sarge?”
Sarge shrugged and said, “It depends on Flying Officer Goodhew. He’ll let us know.” They finished packing test equipment and calibrators away and left it to the Wensley staffer to lock up.
“Take the manual with you, Corporal Hill,” said Sarge. Andy nodded and packed it in his haversack. With a chorus of ‘Goodnights’ to the Wensley staffer, they left the room and headed down to the common room to meet up with other RAF personnel, resulting in a chorus of greetings from them as they entered the room and a round of introductions to Andy.
Flying Officer Goodhew walked in and the buzz of conversation stopped and everyone stood. “Well, it’s been a long day, team. We are still behind schedule but we’ll take tomorrow off and be back on duty on Monday. Next week we will need to push things along. I understand that the CO has talked to the management here and they may get a visit from someone from Air Ministry to push things along. It may have the opposite effect with the Electrical Trades Union. We’ll have to do what we can without causing a strike. Okay, see you Monday.” They all came to attention, Flying Officer Goodhew saluted them and left the room. Andy picked up his bag as they all started for the door and out to the RAF bus.
Higgins was at the wheel of the bus and Flying Officer Goodhew was driving the Vanguard himself. Soon they were heading back down Shields Road, past Parrish’s department store and over the Byker Bridge towards the city. They were familiar sights for Andy. The bus passed Grey’s Monument and headed through Gallowgate, past St. James Park (the home of Newcastle United football team) and west of the city. They passed the army barracks (home of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers), grim looking behind a high wall. Andy was relieved that they hadn’t been billeted there. The bus headed along the Stamfordham Road, out