short time the heat and stuffiness became almost unbearable even though all but a dozen or so essential personnel were evacuated from the bunker.
As can be understood, this facility took many more people to run than were needed by the old 537 SU. It was at this time, therefore, that the new buildings on the domestic site were being finished and occupied as additional personnel were posted in.
The site had to be kept secure and, to this end, as Station Defence Officer, I had to issue the SPs in the tech site Guardroom with weapons. Accordingly, each duty SP was issued with a Sten gun and a full magazine of ammunition, both to be kept separate, but close at hand, and signed for in a register at watch change-over. After a while the SPs tended to become lax about their responsibilities regarding these weapons. On one occasion, when coming off watch I found an unattended Sten gun so, with full authority as Armament Officer, I openly removed it and took it away with me to the Armoury on the domestic site. I awaited developments, but an hour passed before the loss was reported. The responsible SP was duly charged and brought before the Station Commander (whom I had informed of my actions as soon I had returned the weapon to the Armoury) and was severely punished. The SPs were more careful with their weapons after that. The point here is that it could have been snatched by anyone coming in off the road and used to threaten the SPs and cause them to hand over their other weapons, thus leaving the tech site open to an aggressor. We could not be too careful and never had to forget that a Russian tank, provided it could cross the Weser, might only take about an hour to get to us from the border.

The top (desk section) of an old and very dilapidated Type 64 PPI display console.
This one survives in the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum at Neatishead.

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