H bomb Tests Christmas Island Pacific Grapple Y 1958

On a dark moonless night, they bussed us out and put us on a BOAC plane  in civilian clothes because the Americans didn't want us in uniform. We were also exempt from cleaning duties whilst waiting to be shipped out and most of us had no idea where we were going. When some lads found out, they went into town and got in fights so that the police would keep them back. We got to New Yotk like a bunch of spies and flew on United to San Francisco

We were going on a "special mission" but at this stage we still didn't know where. We  stayed in New York a couple of hours, long enough to change planes to a United flight  to San Francisco. From there we flew on  to Honolulu. I remember, we arrived early in the morning with the scent of flowers in our nostrils  and  greeted  by a group of local girls putting flowers around our necks. So far, things had been too good and could not last. After breakfast, we moved out of the civil airport and transferred to  Hickam Field at Pearl Harbor with the last leg yet to come. This was an  RAF  noisy plane, a Hastings, with no frills. No comfort on this plane, and what a racket it made as it flew along with its spinning propellers. Now we knew our destination was a small island in the middle of nowhere about a 1000 or so miles south of Honolulu.

It must have been early afternoon when we arrived. I remember the heat as they opened the door of the plane. Palm trees everywhere and a few small huts at the side of the runway. From here we were taken to the Main Camp for processing. We  had our tropical dress and were strongly advised to keep the shirt sleeves down so as not to get sunburned. We were put in huge marquees till our accommodation was ready and had nothing to do but play cards on the floor to pass the time. We kept our kitbag on the ground alongside our camp beds and eventually we were moved to allocated tents, 4 at a time.


There was a large number  of young service men on Xmas Island. The Army was there  building roads,  and organizing the camp.  The  Navy was there being responsible for water, that the army distributed in tankers left out to heat up in the mid day sun, and then there was us, the RAF preparing the Bomb. There were rows and rows of tents as far as the eye could see. We each had a bed  and a small locker. Around each tent, a ditch had been dug to stop flooding from the tropical downpours, and boards had been placed to keep out the land crabs that roamed all over this island.

My tent was  E17 which happened to be near the ocean-front and also close to the food marquee. There was little benefit in being close to the sea or the food. The reef made swimming impossible and the food had gone off. We wore plimsolls because the coral was sharp. We  had to take care not to be  dragged out over the reef and  some had not been so lucky. Food was served in a grand marquee and it was important to arrive before the road building soldiers came along and selected the bread. There were no hand washing facilities as far as I can remember.  Picking up bread from the basket was of little use. There was also no air conditioning, just tents,  and the butter on the table was also of little use. The trick was to sit closer to the exit in case of emergencies which happened very often forcing a sprint for the chemical toilets nearby, trying to avoid the tent ropes while holding onto one's shorts.

 
 

The water was supplied in army tankers who were parked  in the sun and if you wanted a cool drink it was best to wait for the evening when you could get orange juice from the NAAFI canteen. Our supplies were limited  with little fresh fruit  and drinks. Our water could be any temperature depending on the time of day and the sun's position. I remember on one occasion it was said that  a sailor had  fallen into a tank of water with a sack full of chlorine. The water was in short supply and had to be used so you held your breath and took a quick swallow to get it down before you could feel the taste.

The working conditions were much better than the living accommodation. I was lucky to be one of the  technicians  providing second line service for the navigational radars that were fitted on the Valiant that was supposed to drop the bomb and the Canberras that went through the clouds to "sniff" the radioactivity level of the explosions.

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Thanks to the equipment, we had well regulated air conditioned wooden huts and we all benefited from it. Likewise with food at the airfield, which was meant for the visiting aircrews from the UK   squadrons. It was no surprise that we volunteered to work long hours and we could also listen to the world on our powerful short wave receivers. There was also  Radio KULA  Honolulu who would often make snide remarks about our conditions on Xmas Island and rib us about our tents as if we were in Arabi.  Of course, the Americans were doing similar tests from  Johnson Island, but as would be expected, they had huge transport planes supplying their boys with all the home comforts such as cokes  fresh meats, vegetables and other goodies which we could only dream of. Our supplies  were restricted on what could be carried by our  Hastings planes and the DC3's.

We often had to put up with downpours that are common in the tropics. Wearing sandals and trudging through paddles of water was a little uncomfortable because the island had a huge land crab population who might not hesitate to take a bite at our toes. When not trying to enter the tents, the crabs would cover the road from the main camp to the airfield and driving the land rover at night we would unfortunately  not avoid going over them. 

The first month in our new home was very grim with little to do.  We had an open air cinema and on Sundays we could hear the church bells that blared out from the tannoys. We could always make a trip to the old port but contact with the Gilbertese natives was not allowed. You could swim at the port which was an almost closed lagoon, but even there, there was a danger of a shark getting through. 

Washing was with water from taps installed along metal troughs. You'd think that being in the tropics, the water would be warm but shaving with cold water was no fun.   

There were always rumours that the drop date would be delayed due to weather conditions that had to be better than perfect if we did not want to have the downpour full of radioactive material over us. We had been told that as soon as the test Grapple Y was over we would be sent back home so the calendar was very important. There  were a couple of Atom Bomb explosions nearer to the airfield but these were not air drops as was Grapple Y and Grapple Z that followed.

When the day came for Grapple Y, we were all ready and we knew our positions. Everything went off like clock work. There had been some minor incidents during the run up, when the AWERE scientists were concerned to notice a frequency of some 50 Khz transmissions that were interfering with their work. Fortunately, they traced it down to our testing a particular set of equipment in the Radio Servicing Bay. It is still a wonder how we managed to keep the equipment working during this stressful period. I had managed to pass out of the Nr 2 adio School at RAF Yatesbury as a  Junior Tech Fitter and thanks to my short spell working in a Maintenance Unit, I had some notions on how to keep the equipment running. On occasion I would also fly on training runs to check out the equipment on board the plane. Was I surprised to be told that only the pilots had ejector seats on the Valiant.

The drop morning, started with a lot of expectation and some anxiety. Those of us on duty, were assembled on the tarmac and issued with white suits, supposedly to deflect the flash. There were lorries waiting for us in case of an emergency needing evacuation. The rest of the troops were all taken to the other side of the island and put into landing craft waiting for the explosion, as if they could be protected, in the event of a dirty bomb.

Finally, all planes took off, to be clear of the white bird with the bomb and the Valiant lifted off ready for the testing runs. It went through its checks, doing a navigation run, and an instruments run before its final. The tannoy blared out the seconds as the moment approached for the explosion. Nothing much other than a great silence even as the seconds descended down to about 15 then 10. At this point, silent panic, on what was to happen. At the count of 2 all went blank, 2 and then the great flash at zero with the count continuing as if nothing had happened. No one really listened any more. The flash was so intense that even with our hands shielding our closed eyes and looking down into the ground, the heat and light was indescribable. I could see the bones of my hands as if on an x ray and felt the heat as if I had been suddenly put inside a horrendous fire.

Fortunately this effect was momentary and we started relaxing when the tannoy told us to stay down waiting for the blast. When this came the shock caused the trees at the side of the tarmac to bend over. After this, we were told that we could turn and face the bomb. This was initially a doughnut with different colours of the light spectrum. It was a creepy feeling for some time as it was ominously practically over us since the distance of the air drop was not that far.

After the Grapple Y test, we were told that there had to be some more testing due to the international situation and the return to the UK would be postponed. There would be a Grapple Z and it did not make any sense to take us back and bring out a new crew. There were a couple of Atom Bomb explosions nearer to the airfield but these were not air drops as was Grapple Y and Grapple Z that followed. We had gone out in February for Grapple Y to take place in April, and we finished the year with a trip on the Captain Cook that was originally an immigrant ship taking people to New Zealand. The ship was going back to be scrapped.

I remember thinking that we in the RAF were no longer needed in a hurry, as was the case for the army, so we went back by ship. The first part of the journey was very pleasant cruising through the Pacific Ocean, on to Honolulu in Hawaii, and then through the Panama canal with an overnight stop at Cristobal on the Atlantic side. The town was full of bars and ladies of various nationalities and this was the opportunity to let our hair down, as was the second stop in the Dutch West Indies at Curacao. Then came the payback as we hit the stormy Atlantic at the worse time of winter in December. It took for ever as the old Captain Cook tossed and dived in the mountainous waves of the ocean. Every day we looked at the map it seemed that we hadn't moved at all, sailing at about 14 knots traversing thousands of miles. Finally we somehow made it to Southampton in early January.