Red Hawk Rising

by Peter William Hall

  “Glad to help,” replied Andy. As they walked back to the car, Dan said, “We seem to be making a habit of this.”

  They all chuckled at that and Andy said, “I hope not” but he couldn’t help wondering about all the action he had been in over the last few weeks.

  ***

  Sunday morning (23rd) and Andy telephoned Alice before she went to church. She asked him about the dance and he said it was pretty boring without her. Andy said he and the others went at Yvonne’s request to support the locals. He then said that he would telephone her that evening from RAF Stanmore Park where he was billeted.

  After speaking to Alice, Andy packed his car with his gear and told Lance and Dan that he would see them on the Friday afternoon. Corporal Hill then drove out of the gates of RAF West Sanby and headed for London. His route took him through Boston and he joined the A1 at Peterborough. Travelling south, Andy left the A1 near Barnet and took the old Uxbridge Road that passed through Stanmore. With the map he had been given, Andy found RAF Stanmore Park and pulled up at the gate. An airman on guard duty came across and asked for his identification. Corporal Andy Hill showed his F.1250 and asked where he should report in. The airman told him where to park his car and then go to the guardroom where the duty corporal would sort it out. In the guardroom, the duty corporal checked a sheet from admin and told him where his accommodation was. There should be bedding already on the bed. He gave Corporal Hill a map showing where the mess and other facilities were. With the car parked in the general car park, Corporal Hill found his bed in a room shared with three other corporals. None of those corporals were there so Andy made his bed and settled in. Since the other beds were not made up, Andy concluded that this room was used for temporary accommodation. As Andy was sorting his gear out, a corporal appeared in the doorway and greeted him. “Hi! I’m Corporal Jefferson. I’m in charge of this domestic block. My bunk is next to the barrack entrance if you need help with anything.”

  “Thanks,” replied Andy, “I’m accommodated here but have to go to Air Ministry in St. James Place. I could do with some advice on getting to the railway station and also times of meals in the mess.”

  “No problems,” was the reply and Corporal Jefferson answered Corporal Hill’s questions.

  “Do you know if any other people billeted at Stanmore Park travel in to Air Ministry?” asked Andy.

  “Not as far as I’m aware but there could be,” was the answer. “There are three other corporals due in today to attend a defect analysis course. They’ll be in this room with you. See you later,” and Corporal Jefferson was gone. Andy decided that a brisk walk would be a good idea after the long drive and headed out to find the railway station and the times of the trains. He also needed to find a telephone box and telephone Alice.

  Out of the base, Andy walked briskly up Uxbridge Road and Church Road to Stanmore Railway Station, the terminus for a London underground line from Waterloo Railway Station. He noted the time it took to walk to the station and took down train times. While at the station, Andy found a telephone box and had a call put through to the Waltons’ home. Anne answered the telephone. Apparently, she was expecting Lance to call her. After a short greeting, Anne called out for Alice and then left the telephone. Alice picked up the ‘phone and greeted Andy. He told her he had booked a six-minute call which pleased her very much. “Andy,” she asked, “are you on duty next weekend?”

  “Not as far as I know,” he replied. “Why?”

  “Well,” Alice said, “there’s a special ball on in Hexham next Saturday and Dad’s firm is one of the sponsors. It’s to raise money for Oxfam. I will be going with Mum and Dad but I’d like you to go with me. I’m sorry that I didn’t mention it before but when we’re together things slip my mind.” Andy had to stop and think. After a pause, he said that he would check up during the week and if possible, he would drive straight up from London on the Friday so that they had more time together. They left it at that and talked of other things until the six minutes were up. He walked back to Stanmore Park thoughtfully.

  Monday morning (24th) and Corporal Hill, dressed in civilian clothes as his orders stated, departed for Air Ministry. As he left Stanmore Park, he found out that he was not the only one catching the ‘tube’ to Westminster and going into Air Ministry. There was a mix of airmen and WRAFs of different ranks. Some were in uniform and some in civilian clothes depending on where they worked in Air Ministry. He struck up a conversation with a corporal airman and asked him about procedure at Air Ministry. The corporal was happy to explain but apart from saying that he was in communications he didn’t talk about his work. Conversation on the train centred on soccer and on cars. Both felt that they were on safe ground with those subjects.

  At Air Ministry, Corporal Hill presented his movement orders at the Reception desk and was directed to a seat. A telephone call to the section concerned and, “Someone will be down to see you shortly.” Corporal Hill nodded as having understood. Five minutes later a woman with a page boy haircut and wearing a smart suit came out of the lift and approached him.

  “Corporal Hill?” she asked. Andy stood up and said,

  “Yes.”

  She gave him a wintry smile and said, “Come with me. I’m Mr Griffiths’ secretary. He will discuss with you what has been arranged.”

  Andy responded with a thank you. Arriving on the second floor, Andy noticed that it was signed as Supply Section. A corridor went almost the length of the building with doors off to each side with signs on the doors. They entered through a door marked SAM Supplies and into a general office with about eight desks in it. At the window side an area was sectioned off into an office with the name “H. Griffiths” on it. The secretary’s desk was to one side of the office door, facing into the room, like a guard post.

  ‘Frozen Smile’ led the way to the office and knocked and entered. Corporal Hill followed her in. Griffiths didn’t look up but continued writing on a sheet headed ‘Memorandum’. Finally, he put his pen down, looked up at Corporal Hill and then to his secretary to speak. “This is Corporal Hill from No. 28 JSTU, Mr Griffiths. He is here to liaise with us on the supply of spare parts for the Red Hawk system,” she said. Corporal Hill took his orders out of his tunic pocket and handed them to Mr Griffiths to read. He gave them a peremptory glance and handed them back.

  “Miss St John will show you to your desk. Mr Emerson is responsible for the Red Hawk supply programme. He is being assisted by Mr Douglas at present. You will work with Mr Douglas on this exercise. Miss St John, introduce Corporal Hill to Mr Emerson.” He then picked up his pen, lowered his head and continued writing the memorandum. It was clear to Andy that he was seen by Griffiths and his secretary as an intrusion. As they left the office and walked into the general area, Andy noticed a name bar on the secretary’s desk. It read ‘P. N. St John’. He wondered what the initials stood for.

  “Mr Emerson is out at a meeting at present, Corporal. Mr Douglas can introduce you when Mr Emerson returns.” John Douglas stood up when Corporal Hill was introduced, gave a pleasant smile and reached across his desk to shake hands.

  “Welcome and good to meet you,” he said. “My name’s John. What’s yours?”

  Andy gripped the proffered hand and shook it warmly. “Call me Andy,” he said with a return smile.

  Miss St John pointed to an empty desk behind John Douglas’s and said, “That’s your desk while you are here. I’ll leave you two to it.” She then abruptly turned on her heel and almost stalked off.

  “There’s a very serious pecking order in here — usual public service stuff. You’ll get used to it,” said John Douglas.

  Andy grimaced. “Well, I only have five days here so I should survive. Let’s get into why I’m here.”

  John Douglas gave Andy a curious look as Andy made the last remark but just nodded in agreement and saying, “I’m in this section temporarily while the usual person is off sick for the next few weeks. Then I return to my usual department. Let’s get started.” Andy dre
w up a chair and got his file out of his briefcase and they started work.

  The two men worked steadily through the lists of parts, looking at the defect analysis compilations by the RAF personnel from the factory trials. They started with the radar unit, which appeared to have the highest rate of breakdowns in the system. Morning teatime came with a lady pushing a trolley into the room and bringing her presence to everyone’s attention. The tea was served from an urn into white cups with the ‘Air Ministry’ label. “Makes a change from pint-pots,” remarked Andy as they walked back to their desk and continued working. About 11.00 hours, Emerson returned from his meeting and noted the presence of Corporal Hill at John Douglas’s desk.

  As he reached his own desk, set facing the other two, he called out, “Douglas, bring the corporal over.” John and Andy looked at each other and got up and walked over to Emerson’s desk. Andy guessed that the man would be in his forties. He wore the pinstripe suit and dark tie that seemed to be public service uniform and behind the desk was a coat stand with a rolled umbrella and bowler hat on it. Emerson was slim with thinning hair and streaks of grey. From what Andy could see, here was a career public servant. John Douglas introduced Corporal Hill to Emerson. Andy took his orders from his tunic pocket and handed them to Emerson. After a brief look they were handed back. “I don’t know why you have been sent down here, Corporal, since we have adequate experience at this sort of thing.”

  “I believe that they want to test out the new defect analysis system as it relates to a missile system, Mr Emerson,” replied the corporal. “It is part of the overall trials programme, as I understand it.”

  “I would have expected someone more senior than yourself, if that’s the case, Corporal,” responded Emerson.

  “With due respect, Mr Emerson, I don’t make the orders,” replied Corporal Hill, “and it is clear that my CO believes me to be competent to carry out the work.” At that reply, Emerson appeared to bristle but he said nothing and waved both the men back to their desks.

  John Douglas had the information compiled from the progress reports from the factories and these were compared with the figures that Andy had. It appeared that the progress reports had gaps in the necessary information and the two men compiled new lists derived from both sources of information. At 12.30 hours they broke for lunch and John Douglas invited Andy to go out with him for lunch. They left the building and walked to the Embankment, bought rolls and coffee from a stall and sat on the wall with the River Thames behind them. Suddenly John Douglas said, “What goes up must come down.”

  Andy responded with, “And what goes in must come out.”

  John Douglas looked at Andy and said, “Well, that’s a relief.” The two men had given a recognition signal that both had received from different sources.

  “Where are we at?” asked Andy. “I understand that there are three suspects.”

  “That’s correct,” replied John. “They are Griffiths, Emerson and St John. Griffiths has a track record of Communist sympathies from his student days although he is known to support the Labour Party these days. Emerson served in Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War and spent time in Yugoslavia but there is nothing to indicate leanings in that direction. The woman, St John, appears to fit the description of a woman who appeared to make a drop the night one our men was shot and killed. He was last known to be following the ‘pick-up’. We are pretty certain that the leaks are coming out of this office.” Andy nodded and asked about relationships in the office. “St John appears to be loyal to Griffiths. She acts as though on equal terms with Emerson but, as a secretary, she isn’t. The others in the office don’t count, according to those three. A check on the other three clerks found them to be clean,” replied John Douglas. “Oh!” he said, “here is my card and authority,” and pulled out a card from his jacket pocket and showed Andy his MI5 warrant.

  “Apart from my F.1250 I don’t have anything,” said Andy, “although I’m sure Mr Hamilton will have briefed you about me.”

  “He certainly did. Let’s hope we can do this one quietly,” said Douglas with a smile.

  “I’ll be putting in some false data which could be of interest to the other side,” said Andy. “We will need to track who gets that information and what they do with it. I would expect either Griffiths or Emerson to query it but they may not. The figures will not tally with their records. I will include some technical information to answer any query satisfactorily. That should entice someone to pass that information on. The question is — which one of them will do it.”

  Douglas then said, “Let’s get a report to Emerson tomorrow afternoon showing this information and make a copy for Griffiths. We will need to have some way to identify the different copies because I suspect it will be photocopied and the photocopy passed on. I’ll arrange for additional persons to help us to follow our suspects. I think we need to work in pairs for safety.”

  “Sounds good to me,” said Andy, “so let’s get back and get cracking.” The two of them finished off their lunch, disposed of the cups and wrappers and headed back to the office. All that afternoon and the next morning the two men laboured over the parts lists and preparing an interim report. The afternoon was spent in preparing graphs and typing up the report. Given the nature of the information, the typing did not go to the typing pool and the two men took turns in typing up the report. A fairly new Imperial typewriter was available and the keys were not as heavy to hit and the stroke showed well through the carbon copies. The report was in the form of a covering memorandum and tables attached. When the report was finished, they typed a letter on each page of each set of the report. It was ‘O’ for ‘original’, ‘D’ for duplicate and so on. There were four carbon copies and the original for the memorandum but the tables were typed separately. Part of the strategy was to vary the information in each copy of the tables. An emphasis was placed on the radar unit and its parts with explanatory notes that made it of interest to other parties. By 16.00 hours, all was ready for distribution. The original was given to Griffiths, the duplicate to Emerson, a copy to be sent to the JSTU and a working copy each for Douglas and Hill. The last three copies had the correct figures in the tables. To avoid problems between Griffiths and Emerson, Douglas took the original to Griffiths’ office at the same time that Hill took a copy to Emerson. The two men went back to their desks and waited. Half-an-hour later Emerson called to Douglas and Hill to go over to him and answer some queries. He pointed to the difference in figures between Air Ministry records and Hill’s projections. Corporal Hill pointed out that a number of the cards in the radar had the newly invented transistors fitted and these tended to blow when there was a power surge. This had not shown up in factory trials but had when power supply was from a field generator. In contrast, the breakdown rate of the control unit boards appeared to have reduced substantially. Emerson said that he found that difficult to believe since all the parts were from the same factory. Corporal Hill again suggested that the continuous operation instead of the ‘start-stop’ approach of factory trials had proved beneficial, hence the reduced need for those spare parts. Corporal Hill produced some graphs and tables to support the conclusions. Emerson conceded and said that he would approve the report and arrange parts orders accordingly. Douglas and Corporal Hill thanked him and went back to their desks. Ten minutes later, Emerson buzzed for Miss St John to see him. Both Douglas and Hill watched covertly from their desks. Emerson put their report in a folder and gave it to Miss St John. He spoke quietly and the two watchers couldn’t hear or lip-read what he was saying. Miss St John stood with her back to them and they could only see a nod of her head. She went back to her desk and then went in to see Griffiths. Coming out from his office, she went out of the room carrying three folders.

  Corporal Hill said to Douglas, “I’m just going to the men’s room,” at the same time giving Douglas a meaningful look. Douglas just nodded his understanding. As he walked down the corridor, Andy Hill noticed that Miss St John was
in the general office and giving the photocopying clerk instructions on papers to be photocopied. Hill noticed that the machine was something that he had not seen before. He went on to the men’s room and on the way back he turned into the general office. Miss. St John had already left and so Hill walked across to the photocopy clerk and asked about the photocopy machine. The young male clerk asked who he was and Corporal Hill explained. He said he was curious about such a large machine because on the RAF unit their copier used a chemical process and sat on a bench. The clerk positively preened himself as he said, “Oh, this is one of the new Xerox machines. It doesn’t use a chemical process but works on an electrostatic principle and uses heat to fuse the copy.”