Page 68 - Demo

68Working closely with the Electronic Warfare Avionics Unit at Wyton,fits for the installation of ex-Vulcan radar warning receivers wereengineered in short order. Perhaps the greatest feat was to extend therange of the Chinook by nearly 100% by the design and building of aferry tank fit, to allow a possible overland deployment option which was,in the event, ruled out, it was said, by the Foreign Office. That fit, on theface of it a lash-up of ex-Andover overload tanks, was designed and airtested at Odiham on Easter Monday, 12 April 1982. For good measure, amonth or so later, a variant of the fit using Air Portable Fuel Containerswas flown within 12 hours of the idea having been dreamt up.In early May, the station served as forward mounting base for thegunners and convoys of No 63 Sqn, RAF Regt, en route from G%u00fctersloh,to embark at Southampton with its Rapier surface-to-air missile systems.They were as impressive as I had known them to be in Germany. On the26th of that month came a call from the depths of the MOD, telling methat twelve Odiham personnel were unaccounted for, believed lost,following the sinking of Atlantic Conveyor. In the endless hour beforethis totally erroneous message was unscrambled by ourselves, the stationmoved discreetly to handle what would have been devastating news, hadit been true. In this, as in nearly all other events of that testing period,people performed splendidly.The station continued to work flat out during the campaign and itsaftermath. It supported tasking and detachments in the UK and Belizethroughout the period. The Chinook Force mounted a major effort on StGeorge%u2019s Day, to changeover 2LI and 1DWR in South Armagh. SixChinooks moved just short of 900 men and delivered the returning LightInfantrymen to their home barracks at Catterick. The royal visit wasprepared for and all the usual trivia of station life continued unabated!Throughout the conflict, nearly all of the station%u2019s personnel gave 200%effort, willingly and certainly without complaint. They were splendid.The command and control arrangements for CORPORATE did notalways make for clarity, rather they saw Odiham caught in occasionalcrossfire between the Services and the rather more frequent bursts of firebetween Royal Air Force formations. That one was not alone in thissituation was a great help and I owed much to my opposite number atWittering, Gp Capt Pat King, who steered me away from mutiny onmore than one occasion.The appointment to Northwood of a highly competent liaison officer