Burma Star Association - B.C. Chapter
Captain and Petty Officer Cullis
1) Born 1918 in the Forest of Dean, Southwest England.
2) Nov.1940-Jan.1942 Experimental Officer, Department of Scientific Research, Ministry of Supply, London, working on Radar. Incidents described below.
3) 1942-1943: Attended 15th O.M.E. Cour se at Military College of Science, Bury, military commission RAOC (REME formed soon after)and appointed O.i/c Wireless Wing, School of A/A Artillery, Watchet, Somerset.
4) Feb.1943-Oct.46, Overseas to SEAC, Lt REME 2nd i/c 95th Hy A/A R.E.M.E. Wks hp. Convoy torpedoed off German West Africa and all workshop equipment sunk. On to India. i/c Radar maintenance etc.on A/A gun sites round Calcutta; then Capt.REME.6th Ind.Base Wkshp, IEME, Dhanbad, India i/c of Wireless, Electrical & Instrument Repair Shops.
5) Home to Blighty and demobbed 1946.
It was an intensive course run by two Physics Professors, Dr Radcliffe from
Cambridge University and Dr Mott (he later won a Nobel Prize) from Bristol University.
Theory was handled by Mott and practical 'hands on' work was organised by Radcliffe.
We used the then very latest, leading edge equipment: Radar sets called G.L.(
Gun Laying) Mark I that, six months later, would appear antiquated, so rapid
would advancements be made. G.L. for 'Gun Laying' indicated that the Radar sets
were used to point, or lay,
the the anti-aircraft guns on target. I remember working day and night, first
in a kind of a daze, trying to make sense of the welter of electronic detail
and the multitude of strange circuit diagrams. Gradually
understanding came; it was a kind of osmosis, as the new concepts and jargon
filtered into my brain and became familiar realities. Although all of us had
Physics or Engineering Degrees, many, myself included, had little background
in electronics. The going was tough, the time was short, there was a lot to
cover and we did more than cover it; the whole field of radar electronics became
our diet and our obsession, morning, noon and night.
The Castle Hotel overlooked Richmond Park with the River Thames winding lazily
below, and nearby was Richmond Hill that always reminded me of that lovely old
song: 'Sweet lass of Richmond Hill'. On the slope of the hill was the Star and
Garter Pub to which we eagerly escaped for the quick pint whenever we had a
spare moment. The spare moments were few and far between. Nearby, the sleepy
English countryside round Petersham seemed idyllic until it was shattered by
the rude awakening of an air raid; and these were frequent and destructive as
testified by the bomb-damaged, naked walls, temporarily and precariously supported
by large timbers that threatened to fall on us as we hastened past.
We were told to spread the rumour that we were working on 'death rays' and
were suitably impressed when locals in the pub told us, in all seriousness,
that there was a highly secret 'death-ray factory' operating in the
vicinity Radar was top secret and we were all sworn under the Official Secrets
Act to guard that secret.
On January 13th, 1941, after two months of eating, digesting and sleeping nothing
but Radar, I graduated as a fully qualified Experimental Officer (Radar). I
can't remember celebrating, or celebrating Christmas for that matter, for on
completing the course I was immediately put in charge of the Radar anti-aircraft
installations serving a southeast London sector of defence; being responsible
for the installation, calibration and last-ditch maintenance of Radar Installations
on Anti-Aircraft Gunsites covering a ten mile arc stretching from Plumpstead
Marshes on the Thames, southwest to Hayes Common. The Hayes Common Ack/ Ack
site was my Headquarters and, after at first being billeted nearby I was, although
still a 'civvy', moved into
officer¹s quarters with full privileges of the Officers¹ Mess. It
was a new experience for the army having a civilian living in, and it was a
new experience for me a quite naive 22 year old.
My territory included Anti-Aircraft (Ack-Ack) Gunsites at Plumpstead Marshes,
Bexley Heath, Sidcup, Hayes Common, Beckenham, Woolwich Arsenal, and Blackheath
with a Radar set at each. The operation and normal maintenance of Radar was
in the hands of the army Royal Artillery, but for all installations and calibrations
and when a fault developed they could not rectify, which seemed to be a common
experience, I was called in and expected to fix it. At first it was demandingly
frightening, for most of the on-site army sergeants responsible for daily maintenance
of the Radar seemed to know more than I did and I thought if they were stuck
what could I do? Moreover, being a civilian, the only authority I had was that
of the
expert who knew what he was doing, and in order to win their respect and cooperation
I had to deliver. The first month was a pure gamble. I had to win them over.
I sought their advice and learnt a lot. I discovered that, at first, they could
jump to a solution much quicker than I could, but when they were really stumped
they tended to proceed haphazardly. I quickly realised that my strength was
the systematic approach of elimination, which usually took a long time but got
there in the end. Gradually, I won them over and started to enjoy the work.
It was not long after being billeted in the Officer's Mess, that I was provided
with a staff car with an army driver, and given every assistance. I'm sure that
it took time for them to accept a civilian in their midst. It
was a strange time for me also - here I was in my first real job, and not knowing
a thing about army life.
Early on, Hayes Common was the scene of a severe bombing attack, the Air-Raid
Siren sounding one sunny afternoon alerting us to approaching enemy bombers
and, almost immediately, bombs began to fall all around. We had already picked
up enemy planes approaching, on the Radar screens, and their
location - bearing, range and elevation, was being fed automatically to the
Predictor and hence to the guns. The four big 4.5 guns were blasting away, and
the Predictor working out where the enemy plane would be when the shell got
there, assuming the plane did not take evading action. Most of the bombs were
incendiaries and the heath on the Common surrounding the site was soon burning.
In fact, soon everything seemed to be burning, including the cables connecting
the Radar Transmitter to the Receiver. Two soldiers
managed to crawl along the cables with sand bags and put the fires out, and
their success kept the Radar operating and the guns firing.
Sometime towards evening the Transmitter Aerial collapsed, loosened it appeared, by a low elevation shot. This happened fairly often because the silver steel cotter pins used to hold the aerials up were, like most spare parts during wartime, in short supply and could only be replaced by a stout nail which broke in time. The aerial was quickly put up again, firmly fixed using another stout nail, and we were back in action.
Great holes filled with burning oil dotted the site, and I was startled to see the Sentry Box that guarded the Radar Receiver, blown thirty feet into the air and land bouncing on the wire mesh surface that surrounded the installation. Yes, the Sentry was in the Sentry Box and, no, he was not seriously hurt.
Besides the bombs that went off there were several unexploded ones on the
site, one of them near the Radar Transmitter, and I was concerned that it might
go off that night and cause a lot of damage. When I suggested to the two Radar
Operators, who always slept in the Transmitter ready for instant
action, that they had better sleep elsewhere, they assured me that it was alright,
the bomb would not explode, and quietly bedded down for the night. It was two
o'clock in the morning and everybody was dead tired, including the Colonel who
ignored my warning. That night the bomb did explode, the
shattered Transmitter collapsed, and out rolled the two Radar Operators in their
blankets, shaken but, remarkably, unscathed.
When I first arrived at Hayes Common the Ack Ack Gunners there had little faith
in Radar and no wonder, the Transmitter was parked next to a high wire fence
and the Receiver Aerials were not set at the correct height. Each of these factors
made the accurate reading of the position of enemy planes
impossible. I made sure that these two basic faults were quickly corrected,
but there were others that took longer to find and correct. Then I started the
long and rather laborious process of Calibrating the Radar Set that took at
least two weeks. First, with the aid of a barrage balloon, an oscillator was
sent aloft to emit signals akin to those reflected from an aeroplane, and bearing
and elevation readings taken, using both Radar and a theodolite. In this way
the Radar readings were adjusted using a visual check. It took many hundreds
of measurements, much graphing, and then the whole operation repeated and checked
using a Lysander aeroplane that I had flying round and round the Radar site
at different heights and distances.
The pilots found this exercise very monotonous and sometimes just gave up and
went home and it took a lot of persuading to get them back, including on occasion,
pints of beer at the R.A.F. Officers' Mess nearby. Having many Radar installations
to calibrate it was important to keep on friendly terms with both the pilots
and the R.A.F. Barrage Balloon crews.
G.L .Mark.1., as the first Ack Ack Radar set was called, operated on quite
simple principles: the Transmitter sent out short bursts of high frequency radio
waves of five micro seconds duration, at fixed intervals, and these hit the
aeroplane, or any other metal object in their path, and were reflected back
to the Receiver. At the moment the pulse left the Transmitter it triggered a
timing device, the Time Base, in the Receiver
that measured the time the pulse took to travel to the plane and back. Knowing
the time taken and the velocity of radio waves (186,000 miles/sec), one knows
the distance away of the plane. Hence, the Time Base could be calibrated to
give a continuous reading of the distance away, or range, of
the plane.
However, to fix the exact position of the plane two other measurements, namely bearing and elevation, are required. Bearing was simply measured, using two TV type aerials spaced apart like two ears so that when the intensity of the received signals was the same for each aerial, they were facing the target. Measuring elevation was more difficult. In fact,the problem was not solved until after the war had started, by Bedford. The 'Bedford attachment' an elevation measurer or goniometer, was added. During those early years, modifications came thick and fast and I seemed to be always making additions and hitting my head on some new appendage.
Repairing these G.L. Mk 1 sets was a difficult business at the best of times
and during an air raid, it was a nightmare. Crawling under, over, or into these
sets, always with limited space, and trying to get them back into action with
bombs falling, was no fun. What we hungered after was some kind of unitised
equipment so that faulty panels could be pulled out and replaced by new ones
as breakdowns occurred, and the faulty ones repaired at leisure in a workshop.
Ultimately this happened and 'Unitised equipment' was the
great contribution of first Canada and later the U.S.A. to British Radar.
In the early days we had no such luxuries and even spare parts essential for
repair work, were in short supply. Although I had a special pass that empowered
me to requisition for Radar repair any equipment needed, from any shop or factory
in the London area, I seldom used it, for supplies were just unobtainable. Ingenuity
was the order of the day. When 'lecher' bars (used in the Transmitter) became
pitted we juggled frequencies to use a different unpitted section of the bars,
and when that failed, we wrapped them with
silver paper saved from cigarette packets. Silver paper, matchsticks, and string
were often used for makeshift repairs.
Gradually, as Radar became more accurate and the Army learnt how to use it,
the Ack Ack Gunner's faith in Radar grew and enemy bombers developed a healthy
respect for the Anti-Aircraft Batteries that ringed London. Although many bombers
were shot down, the chief purpose of 'Ack Ack' was to force the enemy planes
to fly above 10,000 feet and face attack by Spitfires and Hurricanes. Low flying
enemy attackers (below 2,000 feet) had to run the gauntlet of a ring of barrage
balloons with explosives dangling from
them on long wires. With 'Ack Ack' defending the air space between 2,000 and
10,000 feet, fighters above and barrage balloons and Bofor Batteries (rapid
firing small calibre guns) below, a strong defence was built round London. The
complete London Defence System was under the control of the RAF
Fighter Command whose headquarters were housed deep under the heart of London,
at Uxbridge, in a converted Tube Station. But this was only part of the picture.
On the south coast of England there was a line of Coast Defence Radar sets(CDCHL), with masts over 300 feet high, that picked up enemy attackers almost as soon as they left their air bases on the Continent. These early warning Radar sets were vital during the Battle of Britain for they gave Air Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding, C in C. Fighter Command, time to get his critically short supply of fighter squadrons into the air at the right time and place.
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