This was a comparatively modern system, and was to be developed further within a short while, although we students did not know it at the time.
Working conditions at this site were far superior to those at Ringstead. The site had much more importance too because it was capable of operating as a GCI Station and had a Sector Operations facility, whereas Ringstead merely passed its plots to another site for interpretation. It was to a place such as Portland that anyone on our course could be posted once we had qualified. The interest factor, therefore, was greatly enhanced as we could see being put into practice the very jobs for which we were being trained.
Better still was our visit to RAF Sopley. This was a fully operational GCI Station. The operations block was underground, access to which was via an innocuous looking bungalow in the New Forest. The bungalow was the Guardroom and itself gave access, via a long sloping shaft, to the reinforced concrete underground doublestorey bunker. In it was a central well overlooked by the windows of rooms housing personnel dedicated to specific tasks. In the bottom of the well were a General Situations table and a fighter plotting table; all very reminiscent of the films about the Battle of Britain seen in public cinemas. The back wall of the well carried what was called the 'Tote' on which was displayed call-signs, Squadron aircraft serviceability and readiness states, weather information, and much else necessary for the conduct of an air battle. The rooms overlooking the well were occupied by the Chief Controller, civil defence, anti-aircraft control, Royal Observer Corps, and other personnel who would only be present in the event of a real war or a defence exercise. It was at this point that I saw, for the first time, a person called the Ops 'B', the equivalent of that mystical (and dreaded) individual from whom orders to 'scramble' were passed to Duty Pilots at Jever. In reality he was the Chief Controller's assistant with a rank no higher than Senior Aircraftman. What a letdown! We were shown the control cabins wherein Fighter Controllers did their job, and were able to watch as they and their support teams worked.7 This visit taught us much more than could possibly be explained to us in any class-room. We were able to see people doing our future jobs, with modern equipment in the most modern, air conditioned, and protected environment.
Having been to Sopley and seen its facilities and beautiful location in the New Forest, made all of us on the course keen to be posted to such a place. But there was much more learning to be done before that day came, and there were many questions to be asked of our instructors arising out of what we had seen during these visits.
Our instruction was far from over. At the tech site we practised the use of radar. We had nothing very new to work with. The main search radar was an old mobile Type 15 metric equipment which had seen better days. It operated on a wavelength of 1.45 metres and its rotating reflector showed its history in the form of rabbit netting patches covering holes made when it was attacked during the war. We had a mobile Type 14 centimetric (10 centimetre) search radar as well, and a mobile Type 13 height finding radar. All, as their names imply, were mounted on vehicle chassis and powered by trailer-mounted generators. To complete the set, the control cabins were also mounted in the backs of specialist vehicles. There were also classrooms, a toilet block, and a building for the technicians, together with a remote VHF transmitter. One of the instructors' party tricks was to place a neon bulb near to the twin aerial leads of the Type 15. It would glow from the power radiating from the leads. A finger placed in the same place would generate a fizzing noise caused by the electrical interference it created. No student was allowed to emulate these demonstrations.
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7 The support teams were usually called cabin crews.
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