112 Signals Unit, RAF Stornoway (112 S.U.) was a classified
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(RAF)
Electronic countermeasures
An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...
(ECM) measurement and evaluation unit based at
Stornoway Airport
Stornoway Airport is an airfield located east of the town of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, in Scotland. The airfield was opened in 1937, and was then used mainly for military purposes. The Royal Air Force had an air base (RAF Stornoway) th ...
on the
Isle of Lewis
The Isle of Lewis ( gd, Eilean Leòdhais) or simply Lewis ( gd, Leòdhas, ) is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. The two parts are frequently referred to as ...
in the Outer Hebrides.
[Document AIR 14/4317 ''1974–1980'', The National Archives, Kew. (Memo No. 247 from ORB, HQBC discusses ECM measurement results by 112 S.U.)] It was an
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...
Headquarters (
HQBC) directly administered unit established during the height of the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
.
Role
Once 112 S.U. had been established at Stornoway Airport from 1 January 1960, under the auspices of the
Operational Research Branch
An operational definition specifies concrete, replicable procedures designed to represent a construct. In the words of American psychologist S.S. Stevens (1935), "An operation is the performance which we execute in order to make known a concept." F ...
(O.R.B) at HQBC, the unit measured the signal strength, frequency bandwidths and aerial performance of the operational
Handley Page Victor
The Handley Page Victor is a British jet-powered strategic bomber developed and produced by Handley Page during the Cold War. It was the third and final '' V bomber'' to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the other two being the Avro ...
and
Avro Vulcan
The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) is a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe and ...
V bomber
The "V bombers" were the Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the United Kingdom's strategic nuclear strike force known officially as the V force or Bomber Command Main Force. The three models of strategic ...
s as they flew a course towards, over or away from the unit varying from straight-lines to polar patterns.
[Document AIR 29/4736 ''1974–1980'', ]The National Archives, Kew
, type = Non-ministerial department
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, logo_width = 150px
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. (map showing aircraft track to/from 112 S.U.) Results were passed back to HQBC and to each aircraft's base for the Electronics Engineers and Technicians to review for performance improvement of each piece of equipment that was measured. The combined success of the unit and each of the aircraft's bases along with support staff at BCDU and
RRE
The Royal Radar Establishment was a research centre in Malvern, Worcestershire in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1953 as the Radar Research Establishment by the merger of the Air Ministry's Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) a ...
Malvern (later to become
RSRE
The Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE) was a scientific research establishment within the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the United Kingdom. It was located primarily at Malvern in Worcestershire, England. The RSRE motto was ''Ubique S ...
Malvern) was demonstrated by the V-force during
Operation Skyshield
Operation Sky Shield, sometimes known as Exercise Skyshield, was a series of three large-scale military exercises conducted in the United States in 1960, 1961, and 1962 by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the Strategic Ai ...
exercises during the early sixties. and subsequent exercises up to the time that the unit was closed in 1983
Cold War backdrop
From the start of the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
period, leading up to the time the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
was built in 1961 and to its subsequent tearing down in 1989 a number of key events happened that shaped the military aviation response. These events included the development of the
Hydrogen bomb
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
, the
V bomber
The "V bombers" were the Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the United Kingdom's strategic nuclear strike force known officially as the V force or Bomber Command Main Force. The three models of strategic ...
,
Duncan Sandys
Edwin Duncan Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys (; 24 January 1908 – 26 November 1987), was a British politician and minister in successive Conservative governments in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a son-in-law of Winston Churchill and played a key ro ...
'
1957 Defence White Paper
The 1957 White Paper on Defence (Cmnd. 124) was a British white paper issued in March 1957 setting forth the perceived future of the British military. It had profound effects on all aspects of the defence industry but probably the most affected wa ...
, the application of
Electronic countermeasures
An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...
(ECM), the
1960 U-2 incident
On 1 May 1960, a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defence Forces while conducting photographic aerial reconnaissance deep inside Soviet territory. The single-seat aircraft, flown by American pilot Francis Gary Power ...
shooting down of
Gary Powers
Francis Gary Powers (August 17, 1929 – August 1, 1977) was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 in ...
' spy plane over Soviet territory, the
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
in 1962, development of the
Blue Steel missile
The Avro Blue Steel was a British air-launched, rocket-propelled nuclear armed standoff missile, built to arm the V bomber force. It allowed the bomber to launch the missile against its target while still outside the range of surface-to-air ...
, shift from a high altitude nuclear bomb to a low-level airborne stand-off nuclear-armed missile in 1964 and the change of platform to the
Polaris missile
The UGM-27 Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fueled nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). As the United States Navy's first SLBM, it served from 1961 to 1980.
In the mid-1950s the Navy was involved in the Jupiter missile ...
submarine solution in 1968.
The V-force of
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...
played a critical role during most of this period since the
Handley Page Victor
The Handley Page Victor is a British jet-powered strategic bomber developed and produced by Handley Page during the Cold War. It was the third and final '' V bomber'' to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the other two being the Avro ...
and
Avro Vulcan
The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) is a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe and ...
bombers particularly had a very high operating ceiling keeping them above likely fighter attack. This was a strong hand to play right up to the time that Gary Power's U-2, which operated at an even higher ceiling than the V-force, was shot down by a Soviet missile over the
Urals
The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through European ...
in May 1960. High altitude nuclear bomb tactics urgently had to change, especially since it had been decided that the submarine solution was a few years away from being a viable solution. The Blue Steel (missile) stand-off thermo-nuclear missile came to the rescue allowing the V-force to fly in low and launch the missile which in turn allowed the bombers to return to base from a safer height and distance. This change in airborne tactics required a subsequent change in ECM systems and techniques too.
Operation Skyshield
In the United States a decision had been taken that
North American Aerospace Defense Command
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...
(NORAD), consisting of Canadian and United States air defence systems, needed to be tested under
Operation Skyshield
Operation Sky Shield, sometimes known as Exercise Skyshield, was a series of three large-scale military exercises conducted in the United States in 1960, 1961, and 1962 by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the Strategic Ai ...
. By 1961 RAF Bomber Command were invited to Skyshield II. All commercial and general aviation was grounded for up to a 12-hour period nationwide in order to accommodate this military exercise. Unlike the previous two Skyshield exercises when
NOTAM
A Notice to Airmen/Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM), is a notice filed with an aviation authority to alert aircraft pilots of potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the flight. NOTAMs are unclassified notices or ...
's were announced, for 9 October 1962 a Special Civil Air Regulation, SR-452, was published for Skyshield III stating that electronic countermeasures would jam agency air traffic control radars and air-ground communications, making it unsafe for civilian aircraft to fly. Eight Vulcan B2's were selected, four each from
27 Squadron and
83 Squadron practised their drills ahead of time. In the novel ''Under the Radar'' by James Hamilton Paterson he writes of Skyshield I, "...and by September all eight aircraft had begun intensive training in the area around the
Orkneys
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
.... to practise co-ordinating their electronic countermeasures...." The Orkneys were used as a way-point at either the start or the end of the trombone-shaped south-westerly course towards 112 S.U. at Stornoway, 122 miles away, for ECM equipment measurement.
Meanwhile, at Skyshield II the four Vulcans from 27 Squadron flew to
Kindley Air Force Base
Kindley Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base in Bermuda from 1948–1970, having been operated from 1943 to 1948 by the United States Army Air Forces as ''Kindley Field''.
History
World War II
Prior to American entry into th ...
, Bermuda to launch their southern wave approach up the Eastern Seaboard while the four Vulcans from 83 Squadron flew from
RAF Lossiemouth
Royal Air Force Lossiemouth or more commonly RAF Lossiemouth is a military airfield located on the western edge of the town of Lossiemouth in Moray, north-east Scotland.
Lossiemouth is one of the largest and busiest fast-jet stations in the ...
in Scotland via
Goosebay to form the northern wave approach over the Canada/United States border. Later, on Monday 7 January 1963 a popular national British newspaper, the ''
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
'', had the headline "V-bombers do it, Target America, R.A.F. "attack" pierces Nuclear defences" and continued "Targets reached included New York, Washington and other key centres" and "...some of the aircraft were fitted with electronic counter-measures... and was at least the second time that V-bombers had made simulated attacks on America. A similar raid was made in 1961." It was a tribute to the Vulcan's significantly higher ceiling along with the aircrew and the excellent ECM performance, ably assisted by the groundcrew, 112 S.U. and HQBC that made the exercises the success that they were.
Cuban Missile Crisis
The
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
took the super-powers' political-military leadership to new levels. During U.S. President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
's nationwide televised speech the US on 22 October 1962 all US Forces were put on
DEFCON
The defense readiness condition (DEFCON) is an alert state used by the United States Armed Forces. (DEFCON is not mentioned in the 2010 and newer document)
The DEFCON system was developed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and unified and spe ...
3 and fifteen hours later on 23 October
Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...
(SAC) were ordered to DEFCON 2 and remained there until 15 November. In the UK, on 27 October the V-force was raised to
Alert Condition 3 meaning that the maximum number of aircraft were to be prepared, armed and ready for operational take-off from main bases within 15 minutes and remained at that level elevated until 5 November 1962. The V-force had just completed
Exercise MICKY FINN II by 22 September 1962 where 112 V-bombers and their crews were assessed at all 4 Alert Levels and included flying each aircraft for ECM assessment at 112 S.U. Stornoway.
Post-Cuba
During September 1963 Air Marshal Sir
John Grandy
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Grandy, (8 February 1913 – 2 January 2004) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He was the only officer who fought and commanded a squadron during the Battle of Britain to reach the post of Chief ...
, AOC-in-C Bomber Command stated that there were six factors on which the penetration of enemy airspace depended – aircraft performance, evasive routeing, high and low level capability, electronic countermeasures, the success of earlier strikes on enemy defences, and, stand-off weapons. Finally, on 4 February 1964, the Secretary of State for Air announced that the V-force was ready to attack targets from a low level.
[ Brookes, p.48 (V-force, low-level readiness)]
RAF Stornoway was one of the airfields used to simulate
Port Stanley
Stanley (; also known as Port Stanley) is the capital city of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2016 census, the city had a populat ...
, in the
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...
, by Vulcan aircraft training for
Operation Black Buck
Operations Black Buck 1 to Black Buck 7 were seven extremely long-range ground attack missions conducted during the 1982 Falklands War by Royal Air Force (RAF) Vulcan bombers of the RAF Waddington Wing, comprising aircraft from 44, 50 and ...
.
Administration
The unit adopted as its badge the existing Bomber Command badge with its motto, "Strike hard, strike sure", adapted by adding the title "112 Signals Unit".
The unit consisted of a dozen or so air radar and air wireless engineering staff, along with ground radar and ground wireless staff who maintained the RAF's communication and navigation ground installations in the area and the communications installation at
RAF Aird Uig
Royal Air Force Aird Uig was a Royal Air Force radar station located on the western edge of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. The main masts and operations room were located north of the village of Aird Uig on Gallan Head, with ...
on the west coast of Lewis. The unit's establishment also included administration and logistics staff, a civilian electronics technician, and two civilian motor transport staff.
In the early 1960s, the RAF had developed the airfield, lengthening and strengthening the runways, and adding a
Gaydon-type hangar, a bomb dump, Squadron Operations and Wing Operations buildings, an accommodation building, a small community of Nissen huts, bulk fuel tanks, and an additional wing to the control tower. Aside from use during occasional exercises and detachments, the buildings remained usually unoccupied, under a care and maintenance regime.
Until 1970, the unit's married men lived either in the married quarters at Columbia Place, Stornoway, or in hirings (that is, privately owned houses or flats, rented by the RAF) throughout the island, while single men and unaccompanied married men were billeted out in private homes throughout the town and nearby villages. In 1970, the accommodation block (then known by the homely title of "Personnel Housing" or "PH") was taken out of mothballs and staffed by cooks and a civilian cleaner as the Unit's bachelors and unaccompanied married men were decanted into it. Later on the unit's monitoring and support functions were moved into PH, and the converted power-house which it had until then occupied was handed back to the
Ministry of Public Building and Works
Ministry may refer to:
Government
* Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister
* Ministry (government department), a department of a government
Religion
* Christian mi ...
.
The need for the unit's services as an ECM monitoring facility decreased as the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
took over the burden of the nuclear deterrent, and as the Vulcan and Victor aircraft the unit was created to support were withdrawn from service. Finally, in 1983, the Unit closed; for some years thereafter its elaborate aerial array became a mystifying gate-guardian at the entrance of RAF Stornoway, which itself closed down in 1997, the airfield and all its facilities being handed over to civilian control.
The unit's charitable work and its involvement with the local community were recognised twice by the award of the
Wilkinson Sword of Peace The Firmin Sword of Peace (previously known as the Wilkinson Sword of Peace) is an award given to units of the British Armed Forces for activities above and beyond the unit's normal role that improve relations with the community, either within the U ...
.
See also
*
Electronic countermeasures
An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...
and
Electronic warfare
Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponen ...
for further technical cross-references
* See
RAF Stornoway
Royal Air Force Station Stornoway or more simply RAF Stornoway is a former Royal Air Force station near the burgh of Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis, in the Western Isles of Scotland. No. 112 Signals Unit Stornoway was also part of the RAF's ...
and
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...
for further military cross-references
* See
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
and
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
for further political cross-references
* See http://www.nationalcoldwarexhibition.org hosted by the RAF Museum Cosford.
* Visit National Cold War Exhibition (NCWE) hosted at the
Royal Air Force Museum Cosford
The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, located in Cosford in Shropshire, is a free (currently, 2022) museum dedicated to the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force in particular. The museum is part of the Royal Air Force Museum, a non-departme ...
,
Shifnal
Shifnal is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, about east of Telford, 17 miles (27 km) east of the county town of Shrewsbury and 13 miles (20 km) west-northwest of the city of Wolverhampton. It is near the M54 mo ...
,
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
, TF11 8UP.
References
Citations
Bibliography
* Ref: AIR 14/4317
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External links
{{Royal Air Force
Signals units of the Royal Air Force
Electronic countermeasures
Military units and formations disestablished in 1983