RSG: Sites: RAF Sopley R3 GCI ROTOR Station

[Source: Nick Catford]
By this time, 1942, the equipment had improved and the knowledge gained by ground staff and aircrews had been consolidated. The Intermediate was disbanded and the site really became a permanent feature, complete with outside and inside guardrooms, restrooms, canteen and controller's rest room.

"When the time comes to tell the story, Sopley will go out in a blaze of glory". Whether he meant the efficiency of the operations or the shine on the corridors, I do not know.

BY ROYAL COMMAND
On the 7th May 1941, King George VI visited Middle Wallop where everyone and everything had been polished to perfection. The aircrews were paraded for inspection but it was towards the time of day to be ready for enemy bombers that they all waited anxiously with an eye on the light and the clock as dusk crept up and Sopley patrol was due.

The Royal Party then left Middle Wallop and was driven to Sopley, stopping at the New Queen for refreshments. Fred Bowler's fiancée was staying at the inn at that time and was astonished at the activity in the forecourt when the King arrived.

In the dimness of the caravan at Sopley the visitors stood looking over Brownie's shoulder at the glowing tubes of the PPI. The time-trace swept round the face of the tube in a remorseless, hypnotic rhythm. Each sweep of the aerial meant the two blobs of light, enemy and friendly, came close together That night Brindley Boon was busy tracking the courses and calculating the airspeeds of both planes, when the King was given a seat next to him, a curtain separating the two. "Imagine my state of panic when, right in the middle of the chase across the southern skies, the curtain was drawn aside and a deep, guttural voice asked": "And what are you doing?" Brindley sprang to attention and sent his chinagraph crayon hurtling to the floor and replied: "Plotting, Your Majesty", as if he was about to plant a bomb under the throne. "Oh are you" commented the King as he stooped down in the darkness and retrieved the crayon, which he calmly restored to a ledge on the plotting table.

The ceremony had already started before the King arrived at Sopley, but the enemy was well out at sea and Brownie had plenty of time to arrange the meeting to suit the occasion. He suggested the visitors might like to view from outside as the aerial battle was then overhead. They left the caravan and went into the cold moonlight. The sound of aircraft was soon heard and the unsuspecting Heinkel was stooging around.

As described in 'Night Fighter', "The Heinkel was ahead and we were below our target. John (Cunningham) started pulling up behind it and the long wait was even more agonizing than usual. But the enemy crew showed no reaction - we were right behind. Then came the moment of tension with the sharp little lurches as John brought the sight to bear - still no response from the enemy. Then came blessed relief of the crash of guns and the sudden surge upwards to get out of the way of the hurtling wreckage. A wicked orange glow appeared inside the fuselage of the Heinkel and the wheels fell down in the most forlorn way. As we flew alongside, watching, the glow burst through the skin and the flames took over. The whole aircraft trembled and broke up with a violent pitching, with a plume of flames streaming out behind; it went down in a headlong plunge to earth." The show was over and the Command Performance had finished.

When the aircrew got back after midnight they had a call from John Brown to report that His Majesty had witnessed the combat and seen the burning Heinkel fall from the sky. It was indeed a night to remember by all concerned on the ground or in the air. John Brown was awarded the MBE later that year.

INVASION
One time we did feel we were doing something really useful was on the night of 5/6 June 1944 - 'D-Day'. 'C' Watch was on and our CO had visited the billet during the afternoon to inform us that we were all CB (confined to barracks) - those who were in could not go out, anyone who returned also had to stay in. We were also to go on duty an hour before our normal time which he later explained was to ensure that the off-going watch did not see the unusual amount of activity on the boards. From the very first of that nightwatch we were very, very busy. The invasion troops started out about the same time as we went on duty and soon the channel was filled with models of ships plus the usual plaques for aircraft definitions. There were some 7,000 ships, from battleships to small transports and landing craft, and also 13,000 aircraft taking part that night and 200,000 men were out there in the channel - in ships and planes. We all had friends who would be there and when we had a minute to think, we prayed for all or them. No-one had much time for more than the merest necessary relief that night and at dawn the CO allowed us to go on the roof for a glimpse of the gun flashes. It was a horrible sight though.

Blessed relief came at 3 am when we handed over to the next watch and we were taken back to our billet. We did not bother with more than a cup of tea for breakfast as bed was very enticing. At noon the cooks woke us to tell us the good news of the invasion, which had just been announced on the BBC News. Didn't we know about that already though? They did not know what work we did, of course.

We were back on duty at 5 pm and still busy. We were all still keen for work as for once it really meant something to us all. We were very tired as we returned to our beds at 11 p.m. but duty called again at 1 p.m. next day, 7th June. Was it in fact only 36 hours since that invasion?

On that watch we were given the same letter that Eisenhower had handed to the troops taking part in the action that day 6th June. I believe that only 'C' Watch received this letter for our part on the actual night. I still have my copy, autographed on the back by the people on duty and it is now a very dog-eared piece of paper, after any children and grandchildren have displayed it on anniversaries to their schools. It is a very treasured possession because it was not something just handed out with the rations, but one had actually to take part in the invasion to earn it. In 1989 I attended the service in Bayeux Cathedral when the Queen Mother unveiled the memorial window and I felt that, if even for that one day alone, I had served a purpose with my time in the WAAF

Of course after June 1944 our services were required less and less, as the squadrons were sent to France and defence of our own coasts became less imperative. We had little work to do and in February 1945 the first of us was posted away, soon followed by the majority. So ended Sopley or did it? Like the Phoenix did it rise again?

DOWN BUT CERTAINLY NOT OUT
In 1945 after the invasion of Europe and the advance of the allied forces through France and Belgium, the work of the radar stations along the coasts of Britain was falling. We had a few raids with 'Divers' (or Doodlebugs as the media named them) but few travelled as far as our Sector. In February 1945 the first WAAF were posted from Sopley to Inverness, shortly followed by most of the others to Watnall. Our work on GCI units was finished.

Throughout the south at least the work of radar and Clerks SD (Special Duties) was over - we had served our purpose but were now redundant. I was posted to Inverness and then transferred to Stanmore. While there, the main work was to solve the crosswords in the Times and Telegraph each day on duty and do a course in dressmaking - supposedly fitting us out for civilian life. Passes were a thing of the past, as we were only an 8d (3 1/2p) train ride to London and dashed off as soon as the watch was over for us. There we could try for free tickets to shows, listen to concerts or do whatever we wished and be back in billets in time for the everlasting 23.59.

Discharges were started and the married women were gathered together for early release. Some WAAF remustered to other trades but life after radar on a GCI must have been rather boring, in my opinion.

However civvy days soon took over from the uniform existence we were used to and we tried to settle down to a life which had been interrupted by the war - to a life some of us had never known in fact. It was not easy and housing was our biggest problem. Those of us who were married found it difficult to find accommodation and set up house with only utility or secondhand furniture. Gradually, as children came along, we put the past behind us and concentrated on another life. We had all changed a great deal during our service life and our outlook on life was very different from that which we had experienced before 1939.

Sopley however, was still going on even after a break and although at the end of the war its role was confined to care and maintenance, it was soon in full swing again, playing a vital role in a defence chain. Excavations involved in these later developments ran into serious trouble but eventually a new Sopley was built on the original site of the first mobile.

So after the first site, then the intermediate and finally the happidrome, Sopley became a huge underground complex which finally emerged in 1954 - filled with the most advanced electronic equipment available. It eventually emerged as a radar based unit training school for air traffic controllers. In 1972 another unit (Military Air Traffic Control Area Radar School) moved to Shawbury to become the area radar training squadron of the School of Air Traffic Control and on 27th September 1974 Sopley was finally closed down. It had taken part in the trials of Concorde after all the work done protecting the south coast against enemy bombers and the invasion of Europe, but the fly-past of the Spitfires and Concorde had to be cancelled because of bad weather.

The admin site remained empty for a short time and there were many rumours as to its future use. In 1976 it was used by the Household Cavalry for annual training which included show jumping, tent pegging, sword, lance and other equestrian sports. The in 1980 a sign appeared on the gates of the camp 'Trung Tam Teep Nhan Sopley' which meant 'Reception Camp Sopley'. The camp had become a reception area for the boat people of Vietnam.

There were ll5 families (600 people) from many walks of life who lived on the camp. Farmers, tailors, doctors, potters, boat builders and many other skilled people from different trades all came to Sopley. When these people were invited to assemble on the tennis courts they were reluctant to do so because the netting surrounding the courts reminded them of the cages they had left behind in their homeland. A letter from Veronica Handscombe who was a nurse on the camp, states, "From January 1980 until December1982 the Boat People' lived in the RAF huts, ate in the mess and the food was prepared by Vietnamese in the kitchens. I worked in the medical centre treating the chest sores (many of them). Initially the wards were used and quite full with babies, cots, toys etc. all donated by the Red Cross. There was a dedicated band of nurses, field workers, social workers, interpreters etc, but it was a very tiring and demanding job, especially with the language difficulties. In late 1982 the Vietnamese were rehoused in London and other areas, so RAF Sopley was quiet again, apart from the cadets using the cinema and a room for meetings."

Now the camp is deserted and meetings and discussions are taking place to plan its future. The R.A.F. Ensign remains in the North Nave of the Church were we attended church parade; the only reminder that we were ever there, really. As Kipling wrote "Now there is nothing, not even our rank, to show what we have been...!"

However, we were obviously not too primitive in our equipment for in 1990 the £248m ICSS System will be ten years late in linking radar systems, fighter and air command centres.

Site Records

Site Name: RAF Sopley ('AVO') R3 GCI ROTOR Station