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Federation and MeteorologyBureau of Meteorology
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Table of Contents

Radio Technical Officers

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Early Years

Chapter 2: The Training School

Chapter 3: Equipment Installation Records

Chapter 4: The 'Techs' in Antarctica

Chapter 5: The 'Techs' Tell Their Stories
Trevor Donald Tells It All; Life in the Bureau from 1947 to 1989
Ray Clarke Looks Back
Some Memories from Ralph Bulloch
Peter Copland Works in Meteorological Electronics
Some Titbits from Dave Grainger
A Very Modest Tale from Alf Svensson
Adrian Porter Pulls No Punches
Jack Tait Recalls
Some Stories by Colourful Freddie Soutter
Some Snippets from Noel Barrett
Stephen Courbêt Has His Penny Wworth
And a Flyspeck or Two from Lenny Dawson
Some Interesting Reminiscences from Jannes Keuken
Brief Stories from Phil Black
From Gloria West, Wife of the Late Bob West
The Life and Bureau Times of Graham Linnett
Tales Out of School from Bill Hite
Peter Copland on Cyclone Tracy
Peter Broughton Tells the Story of Maralinga

Appendix 1: 'Techs' Roll Call

Appendix 2: Trainee Intakes

Appendix 3: 'Techs' Who Have Served in the Antarctic Region

Appendix 4: Summary of Major Installation Projects

Appendix 5: Summary of Major Equipment Variously Installed at Sites and Maintained by Radio Technical Officers


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Peter Broughton Tells the Story of Maralinga (continued)

Returning to Adelaide in the De Havilland Dove in 1957 after eight months was an extraordinary event which concludes my recollections of Maralinga. I think I was one of the very few who spent as long as eight month at Maralinga; even the sergeants were given leave to return to their families every six months. At the time I thought it warranted my entry in the Guinness Book of Records. In the end I had slowly lost interest in sleep and spent much of the night hours walking or talking to the all-night telephonist. When my relief eventually arrived he had no knowledge of the radar and it was left to me in a week long overlap to provide some familiarity with its complexities. It was no surprise to me to learn he had resigned after his second week.

In all the time I had stayed at Maralinga I had never visited the airfield and was surprised to find out how close it was to the village. There were nine other passengers happily waiting in the departure room to return to civilisation. The return trip on the Dove started uneventfully, although our pilot seemed to have some difficulty deciding how much fuel was needed before we took off for Adelaide. The mess had provided an urn of tea, an urn of coffee and a hamper of sandwiches to see us through to journey's end. We were warned that it would be extremely turbulent flying over the desert until we reached 4,500 metres but after that it would be safe for us to unfasten our seat belts and unpack the refreshments. We settled ourselves and the aircraft took off in a surprisingly steep climb from the airfield. A young sergeant behind me became very agitated by the way the pilot was handling the aircraft and the passengers near him had to persuade him not to leave his seat. It wasn't long before the aircraft started shuddering and bumping its way up through some of the most extreme turbulence I have ever experienced. None of us were feeling the best when the aircraft levelled off an hour later. I remember I was the first to make my way to the back of the aircraft and unlash the containers of tea and coffee, pouring two cups of tea thinking the pilots would welcome it. To my surprise I found them both asleep with an alarm clock set to 5 pm, our scheduled time of arrival at Adelaide airport, attached to a string swinging back and forth between them. As I touched the pilot's arm he nearly shot through the roof (perhaps he thought I was the grim reaper). "Don't you ever do that again" he shouted at me. I could only offer them the tea in a state of shock and I vowed never to make the same mistake again. I later learnt that most pilots sleep on long journeys, but at the time it was a secret I kept to myself just in case there was a parachute on board and I needed to get to it first. Surely we were flying on a wing and a prayer; "Dear God, let the alarm clock go off at 5 o'clock".


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Clarke, R. 1999 'Stories of the Bureau's Radio Technical Officers from 1948', Metarch Papers No. 14 February 1999, Bureau of Meteorology

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