Red Hawk Rising

by Peter William Hall

  ***

  The Russian Consulate in Manchester had a very impressive communications mast on top of its building. It was said to be the most advanced in Manchester. Similarly, its communication centre in the consulate housed some sophisticated listening equipment. The consulate’s military attaché, Major Andrei Garasov, was responsible for coordinating the gathering of intelligence on the RAF’s ‘Red Hawk’ system. At the moment he was focusing on Argonaut Industries factory at Heald Green. He had the ‘listening’ team combing the wavelengths in the hope of finding out which one the missile and radar would be using. Garasov also had a team of four agents working the places that the RAF personnel based at Handwell, were known to frequent. There were other agents, controlled directly from Moscow, also being directed to seek information but he had no direct contact with them. Moscow had informed him that he would be informed by Moscow of anything significant that he should know. Garasov knew that there was a build-up of RAF personnel going on which meant that the Red Hawk system must be getting close to the trials stage. Garasov had one of his agents photographing RAF personnel that visited Argonaut Industries. The information was passed to the other agents who had the task of frequenting the pubs and dances that the airmen were known to visit. There they would engage them in conversation and seek to find out about the work the airmen were involved in. It was the seemingly inconsequential pieces of information that, when put together, could provide a picture of what was happening. Plied with alcohol, some tongues could become loose with restricted information.

  Garasov cleared his desk and locked up. It was late afternoon and he would go out this evening to check on his agents.

  Corporal ‘Andy’ Hill turned into the barrack room that the Junior NCOs (non-commissioned officer) were billeted in. He picked one of three empty bed spaces and put his bag on the adjacent locker. Blankets, sheets and pillow were stacked on the bare mattress cover. No-one else was in the room as the personnel were all still at work. He quickly made up the bed and unpacked his bag into the wardrobe and locker. Then he headed back to the JSTU office, carrying a clipboard and pad. Andy spoke to the SAC and asked for the tech. library. Going in, he met a slightly overweight corporal and introduced himself. The other responded with, “Hi! I’m Corporal Armstrong — Admin. I’m responsible for the JSTU detachment’s admin. Good to meet you. Call me Mike.” Andy asked for the Red Hawk manuals, such as they were at that stage, and Mike indicated a row of them on a shelf. He picked up the first one and sat himself at a spare table and started to read and make notes. Andy noted the main assemblies of each major item of the system. He then noted down the sub-assemblies and then the important components. They would need to monitor each part during the trials. At the factories he would look for the test results of the different parts and try to assess probabilities of failure. He would be back to the mathematics he enjoyed. Mike suggested a mug of tea for Andy and organised the SAC to get it for him. Sipping the tea, Andy worked quietly through the manuals in preparation for his visit to Argonaut Industries on the morrow. Five o’clock came and Mike called out to Andy that it was time to go. Andy asked for another fifteen minutes to finish what he was doing. Mike nodded his agreement, pleased to note that Andy was not a ‘clock-watcher’. Sometimes this unit called for people to work long hours and all the members needed to be committed. Finished, Andy labelled his notes and arranged for them to be locked away for the night. For security reasons, no written material was allowed to be taken to the barrack rooms where someone might be able to access them.

  Mike and Andy walked back to the barrack room together. They washed and cleaned up and headed down to the NAAFI for a beer before dinner. There was a room for the junior NCO’s and they headed for that. Settling down with their beer, Mike talked about himself. He had been with the unit from the beginning — over six months — and knew all the RAF personnel. While it was known as a Joint Service Trials Unit, this one was purely RAF. He had had an introductory tour of the factories and where RAF personnel were accommodated when he joined the unit but had been at Handwell ever since. Mike was about Andy’s age and they appeared to have got their corporal’s stripes at about the same time. Mike told Andy that he had met a young lady at a dance at Alderley Edge and it was getting pretty serious. Andy was less open about himself but gave a few details, saying his love of mountaineering left him little time for romance. They finished their beers and headed for the mess for dinner. The food turned out to be of a lower standard than the West Sanby mess.

  After dinner, Mike got changed into civvies and headed out to meet his lady love. Andy decided on a quiet night in to prepare for the morrow. When they got back to the barrack room, they saw a notice posted up that all personnel were to attend the security briefing in the morning. Andy spent the evening introducing himself to the other corporals and getting to know them. They were all highly knowledgeable about their trade groups and all had been specially selected for the unit. In civilian life, several would have been classed as ‘boffins’. Where trade unions divided up the work into different parts, there were no such divisions for the RAF personnel. They could work on all parts of the equipment. Some of them headed out to the NAAFI (Navy Army Air Force Institute), others gathered around a television. Andy went out to walk around the base. He particularly wanted to know where the gym was so that he could work out and also practice his martial art patterns.

  At 08.00 hours the next morning (Thursday 22nd), they all assembled in the lecture room for the security briefing. There was the usual reminder that they were all signatories to the Official Secrets Act, then the officer in charge of the detachment signalled for the projector to be switched on. A picture of a civilian came up on the screen and the officer said, “This is a Russian spy. Take note of him and beware if you see him.” He nodded to the projectionist and another face came up on the screen. “This is another one. There is little point in giving you the names that they go under. If they talk to you it is unlikely that they will use the names we know. Remember their faces. Expect them in the places that you frequent. If they offer to buy you a drink then refuse. Don’t molest them outside of the workplace or base, whatever your feelings might be.” Andy made good note. He didn’t know them from the past. Then another picture went up on the screen and Andy gave a start. The officer said, “This is the Russian military attaché at the Manchester Consulate. You may see him around the locality. Do not enter into conversation with him. Also, remember that he has diplomatic status.” As he spoke, Andy was thinking back into the past in Scotland but decided to pay attention to the present. They were briefed that an MI5 agent was around but no name or photo was given. With a final warning to be on their guard, the briefing ended and the men headed out to the office or the bus that would take them to the factory. Andy joined the latter.

  The RAF bus pulled up inside the gates of Argonaut Industries and all the personnel got off and checked in with security. Andy and three others were new so they had to wait while temporary passes were issued and their photographs taken. Then they were taken to the main project office for Red Hawk. They were introduced to Bill Reeves, a mathematician and computer expert. He took them down to a lecture room, bid them be seated and then he briefed them on the missile and control systems. A new computer was being developed for the system, the ‘Mercury’. It was an analogue system and therefore ‘fluid’ in its scale of readings, unlike the digital which worked on binary, hence the name chosen. Programming was different and had Boolean algebra as its starting point. Bill Reeves spoke animatedly about the subject, obviously absorbed in his work. Andy followed his explanations with delight and entered into a discussion on the mathematics and design. Reeves showed his pleasure at this interest. The other three airmen were technicians and didn’t enjoy the discussion as much as Andy. After an hour they broke for coffee and then were taken on a tour of the facilities. Reeves was a good instructor and kept the tour interesting. In the process Andy was able to ask about progress reporting and the documentation that went wit
h the building and testing of the equipment. At the end of the tour two of the techs were taken to join the control unit team and the other to the missile team. Andy was taken to the project co-ordination office. It coordinated the progress on all aspects of the missile system and had its own communication facilities. Bill introduced Andy to Ken Davidson, suggesting that they get together later for a further discussion. Andy grinned his agreement and Bill headed back to his own office. After a brief discussion of each other’s roles, Ken took Andy to a wall board with the PERT (Planning, Evaluation and Review Technique) network pinned on it. This technique had been designed in the USA to fast-track a new missile system and had proved itself as a useful management tool for complex projects such as Red Hawk. They discussed the different aspects of the project and the timing for delivery to the RAF, ready for trials. Each night, progress reports came in from each of the companies involved in the project. Similarly, reports went off to Air Ministry. These were typed up and then passed to the telex operators. The reports were punched up on the telex tape and the spool of punched taped was set up on a telex machine ready for transmission at night. The operator pre-set the time for the machine to operate — usually 21.00 hours. By that time, the building was usually cleared of personnel except the cleaners and security staff. Andy made notes and asked about the different documents that were used to progress the project. He was interested to see whether there was common documentation throughout or whether each company was using its own documentation, which would mean duplication of effort. Ken arranged for another staff member to take Andy through the factory and see the physical progress of documents through the system. Andy noted that the sets of production documents and progress reports were pre-compiled sets, each with a reference number and interleaved with single-use carbon. A clerk or typist would type the information onto a set and then the different copies would be separated and sent to different departments for processing. The carbon paper was separated and thrown away. Andy decided that he would have to find an excuse to stay back and see what happened.

  The staff member took Andy through each area where work was being done on assembly and testing and showed him the progress of the documents. In each of these areas there were RAF personnel from the unit also working and learning how to assemble units of the missile and control system. They would also spend time in the test laboratories working with the scientists and technicians. Andy would engage in conversation with the RAF personnel at each point. They came to a test laboratory for the warhead and it transpired that the team would be staying back in the evening to finish a series of tests that had started late. It was the excuse that Andy was looking for. He asked if he could stay back with them to observe and learn. They agreed, subject to the engineering officer’s approval. Corporal Williamson was the responsible NCO and he ‘phoned through for approval. It was given. Andy and the staff member finished the tour and he was handed back to Ken Davidson. They discussed the documentation and reporting system. Andy was tempted to ask about waste paper and carbons but refrained. He wanted to see for himself.

  It was 16.45 hours and Andy headed back to the warhead test laboratory instead of for the bus to base. Corporal Williamson briefed Andy on what was happening. There was some concern about the welds in the warhead. It was a case for a series of steel rods welded end-to-end that effectively enclosed the explosive and detonator. When detonated, the steel rods blew through the casing to form a huge ring of steel, the welds then breaking to allow the rods to keep hurtling outwards, slicing through anything in the way. It meant that the missile did not have to hit the target to do the worst damage but only be close. It was calculated that the rods could slice right through an aircraft. Under laboratory tests, the welds were not breaking at the right force. Either the mathematics was wrong or the manufacture was faulty. The civilian staff member completed the report for the day, separated their copy from the set and put the set in an internal mail envelope for collection. The carbon was screwed up and thrown into the waste bin. About ten minutes later, a male clerk came in carrying a mail bag and picked up the report with the outgoing mail and headed off on his rounds. The team worked on, running the tests and recording the results. The welds needed much greater force before they would break. This was a problem. At about 18.30 hours, a cleaner came in and emptied the waste bin. It was a woman who appeared to be in her thirties. She didn’t look the care-worn, cleaner type that Andy was used to seeing around places. She moved on, working her way down the corridor. At 19.00 hours, Williamson called a break and they headed down to the canteen for a quick meal. The canteen was on the ground floor and its windows looked out over a loading dock. Beside it were waste bins, one being marked “For Incineration”. Finishing his meal, Andy said he wanted some fresh air and headed out of the building. He rounded the corner of the building and saw the cleaner woman wheel her cleaning trolley out of a side door as a van pulled up nearby. Andy pulled back into the shadows and watched. A security guard was sitting in the passenger seat of the van. He was one employed by Argonaut Industries. The driver got out and opened the back of the van. He took out a bulging bag that looked the same as the waste bag on the woman’s trolley and gave it to her. She then gave him her waste bag and he put it in the back of the van. The van then drove off. The woman then wheeled her waste trolley to the waste bins and emptied the different bags into the appropriately labelled bins. Andy raced back into the canteen and yelled to Williamson that he’d be back. He looked surprised but just nodded. Andy raced off down the corridor, heading for the front of the building in the hopes of getting there before the van left the premises. Fortunately, the canteen was in the main building and the van would have to wend its way past the rest of the complex to get to the main gate. There were startled looks from employees at the RAF corporal going through the building at a run. Ken Davidson was in the foyer signing out and Andy yelled to him, “Espionage! Get the main gate closed!” Ken didn’t argue, reached for the ‘phone and dialled the gatehouse. Andy shot out of the main entrance and headed for the main gate. The van had just pulled up to allow the security officer to get out at the gatehouse. As Andy ran across the front lawn, another security guard came out of the gatehouse and said something. The driver of the van turned and saw Andy racing towards them. The passenger door slammed and he drove off before the gate could be shut. The security officer from the van stood in the roadway and waited for Andy to arrive. He looked threatening with his hands on his hips. Andy slowed down and stopped in front of the security officer. “I thought I saw a breach of security at the back of the building.”

  “Explain yourself,” was the response. Andy said that he observed an exchange of waste bags between the van driver and the cleaner.

  “You were mistaken, Corporal. It was an exchange of cleaning materials, nothing more.”

  The other security officer joined in. “That’s right. That van was from the cleaning contractor. He comes in regularly.” Andy could see he wasn’t going to get anywhere and apologised for the inconvenience he had caused and returned to the main building. The personnel office was located next to reception at the front of the building. There was an interested observer of the incident. It was Hamilton from MI5. As Andy entered the building, Hamilton went out to meet him. “Corporal, what was that all about?” he asked. Andy warily replied that he had made a mistake. Hamilton pulled his identification out and showed it to Andy. “Tell me about it,” he said. Andy explained in detail what he had observed and what was said at the gate. “Thank you. If anything else happens, put a report in to your CO about the incident. I’ll look into it for you.” With that, he indicated that Andy could go.