A personal account by Doug Sewell.
I joined the Air Ministry Meteorological Office at the age of 16 in 1956 and after doing the observing and chart plotting course in London was posted to RAF Linton on Ouse flying training station for Royal Navy air crews.
A year later I volunteered for Ocean weather ships and did the Radio Sonde course at Hemsby in Norfolk and on to Lerwick in Shetland Islands then Tayport near Dundee to get my hand in as it were then aboard OWS Weather Observer for my first and as it happens only 3 month stint in the north Atlantic. On return to base a posting to Christmas Island was waiting for me and with no further ado found myself land in a Beverly Transport plane on the one and only landing strip on the Island. But not before a long and weary journey to USAF base in eastern USA. Next day on to West Coast USAF base then on to Hawaii landing close to the US Pearl Harbour. One nights sleep before the long trip across the Pacific to Christmas Island.
After briefing on my duties and assignment to a tent as my Home for the duration and a quick tour of the essentials (mess tent, ablutions etc.) and a tour of my working area. Consisting of a plotting tent, A balloon preparation area, radio sonde setting up room, Radar unit (an old WW2 Gun Layer set with 2 dishes on top and the Sonde radio receiver tent, and a final warning not to kill and eat the giant crabs that roamed the island as they were the main sustenance for the local population. I was then left to my own devices until the next day.
The days consisted of making hourly surface observations of cloud type and height. Temperature both Max. and min. and wet bulb readings Humidity and wind direction and speed. Coping with the young crabs that came though the tents day and night on their way to the sea and removing the giant ones that liked to sleep on our cots (sometimes under the bedding) was a bit of a nightmare.
In addition we launched a radio sonde every 6 hours to take upper atmosphere reading of temperature, atmospheric pressure and humidity at levels determined by the balloon rate of ascent through an oscillator display which switched between the 3 readings through a 3 cone windmills on the side of the radio sonde. This spun so fast at launch time that even the best operators on the oscilloscope could only caught every other reading but slowed almost to a stop when the air became thinner with height. The balloon eventually burst as the air was so thin that the balloon expanded beyond its designed capability and dropped like stone when the signal started racing faster than at launch. Sometime we were asked to track down and keep taking readings which most of us found almost impossible to do despite a small paper parachute being sent aloft as part of the setup.
Each sonde had an official “if Found” label attached promising the finder 2/6 (old currency then but now 12.5 pence) if returned to the Met Office in Bracknell UK. None were ever returned. Simple lost in the depths of this isolated part of the Pacific.
On the days of test X and Y we had to launch the balloon some 20 seconds after detonation to prevent heat from the bomb bursting the balloon and the blast making it impossible to launch safely. Learnt I believe from earlier detonations bursting balloons at the time of launch coinciding with detonation time. All the information from radar and oscilloscope was being passed to the plotting tent as they were being made when the whole plot was passed to the other MOD scientists for some mystery interpretation.
A few days later I was flown back to UK after handing back my film badge for radio active contamination checking but never debriefed or given any medical checks. I was told later by an unknown source that many of these film badges were lost or destroyed on orders to remove any evidence of harm done by radio active exposure.
After a short spell after returning home with Met Office. I resigned and obtained other employment with Royal Marines, Police UK and finally with the Home Civil Service. After leaving the Police I married and then adopted a beautiful baby girl as it seems that I was then infertile (was this due to Radiation?) No one will ever know.
I received my Nuclear Test veterans medal after a struggle as no records seemed to exist but it was through my determination and old Meteorological records that I could prove my time on the island. Unfortunately I could not wear my medals (other from RM service) on Remembrance Sunday parade in 2024 due to strokes and heart attacks keeping me housebound.
Luckily for me I have lasted this long at 85 and not like many who succumbed to the effects of radiation often in the flower of youth. Never forgotten. Sorry no pictures as cameras were not allowed although some got them well hidden, Official Secrets Act and all that.
Doug Sewell
