Alan Pringle was at Marham when I was there, but as he was a very long serving and highly regarded pilot and I was young and inexperienced I was somewhat in awe of him, as I was of many others, andnever really got into conversation with them. Then I met Alan again at one of the V Force reunions and found him very chatty and affable. He told me he was one of the tiny number of aircrew who had actually dropped two nuclear weapons. Each crew was only supposed to do one "live" sortie, but when the designated co - pilot on another crew went sick, Alan took his place and thus got to take part in two bombs being dropped.

Interesting accomplishment to have on your CV!

Delta Hotel
 

I would be very interested to read about your findings in respect of your father’s flight as ‘sniff 2’
Of note, whilst I have my own father’s log books, there is no record whatsoever of his flights in connection with these tests. This leaves me to conclude that he was required to hand in the relevant book. This might explain the gap that exists in his flying record.

The cockpit is pressurised by air from the compressor stage of the engines. That air comes from the front of the engine so whatever is outside is going to come in.

You can close the pressurisation valve before take off and fly unpressurised on 100% oxygen. This will MAY ensure that the same air is in the cockpit as when you left.

A friend of mine, sadly no longer with us, told me about some missions he flew in a Canberra sampling the atmosphere after a nuclear bomb test (presumably the 'sniffer' missions described above).

One thing he said which interested me was that when they landed after the mission he refused to allow his crew to disembark until the aircraft had been fully washed. This resulted in the crew having to sit in the aircraft in the sun for 1 1/2 hours or so. It did not make him popular at the time but when he did some checking relatively recently his crew was the only crew from his flight where they were all still alive.

Dad told me that after the flight they kept showering until the geiger thing stopped clicking! When I get home I’ll look up the date of his flight. I do know that the bomb was suspended from a balloon at height.

Old family friend was there who is sadly no longer with us, one quiet evening in the pub he told me all about it, something he hadn't talked about before, he said they all lined up with goggles on, turned around away from the flash and said he could see those standing in front like X-rays, he said unfortunately no one told the NAAFI cat not to look at it and it was blinded, same went for all the landcrabs that were walking around bumping into trees etc. The funny thing he said, was the one thing that really worried him about it all was he went into the little NAAFI store and all the toothpaste had squirted out of the tubes... He didn't die from anything cancer related, so in that respect was lucky.

In late 1949, the Lincolns from Binbrook were doing runs up to Jan Mayen Island (about 70 degrees North Lat) to sniff for fall-out from possible Soviet tests.

Retreating blade
 

Some info from Dad’s log books. The trial sequence was Op Grapple Zulu. The test was a suspended bomb on 22 aug 58. He flew in ‘Sniff 2’. Which sort of implies that there was at least a ‘Sniff1’! Prior to this on 16 & 19 aug they flew two sorties designated as ‘scientific rehearsal’ and ‘operational rehearsal’. He died in 2009 from some rare cancer; he did smoke a pipe every day for 60 years and at his funeral his pilot was in pretty good nick.

As an aside and one of those quaint coincidences his log book was signed by the 76 sqn xmas island det cdr who subsequently taught me to fly the chipmunk
at Manston in 1984.

Rgds

Delta Hotel
 

I much appreciate your response, thank you.
My father died in ‘85 of multiple carcinomas. He too was a smoker.
Regards

This may help. The book, Sniffers and Bottlers, is an interesting read,

https://www.pprune.org/australia-new...kwajalein.html

LAME2
 

Thanks - ordered!

Had a flt cdr on 360 (ED) who had flown a sniffer Canberra. Subsequently very ill and died. his widow is on of the claimants against the Government.


Also a well known RAF medical officer and also a pilot who also flew a sniffer Canberra. Rose to 3 start and lived to a ripe old age. I by some odd chance met his son in law on a small airfield in France when I went to look at a Flamant

Anybody wishing to know more about the development of the British Bomb ought to read "Test of Greatness" by Brian Cathcart. Available as a Kindle version from the usual South American river site...it's well worth a read.

My uncle dropped one he was 80 when he died.

The problem with the genetic disorders and other health issues that affected the Christmas Island Vets is that exposure to the radiological effects of weapon detonations is only one of the large number toxic and dangerous items (i.e. chemicals) that were in use at the time that could in the long term cause genetic damage that would lead to cancers and alike. Quite a few of which were considered "Safe" at the time. The accommodation areas were quite regularly sprayed with pesticides by low flying aircraft to keep the flies away, plenty of research since has shown that long term exposure to pesticides can result in the same effects as ionizing radiation. Of course a lot of smoking went on as well.

Quite a few of these issues surrounding Op Grapple are discussed in Tony Blackman's "Valiant Boys". One of my uncles (actually Army National Service ) was in a group photo taken in front of a mushroom cloud. He told me about his experience , confirming the total lack of protection.

Indeed. The photo on this link, shows an Auster spraying the NAAFI and was taken by Sqn Ldr Ted Hart, who was a friend of my parents and served with my dad in K.L. in the late 1950's before being posted to C. I.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/i...ject/205192891

https://media.iwm.org.uk/ciim5/35/90...at=photographs[/url]

LETTER TO CHOGHM
 

You may be interested in this letter set to the CHOGHM to be held next week.

Roy Sefton Letter to UK Government.

The following letter has been forwarded to the NZ Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Prime Ministers of Fiji, Tuvalu and President of Kiribati, and the PM of Samoa as Chair of the Pacific Island Forum). The letter has been forwarded directly to the PM of the UK. In particular, a Media release including the letter has been made in the UK.

Open letter to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), London, 16-20 April 2018.

Support for nuclear veterans in the Pacific.

Sixty years ago this month, the UK government exploded a 2.8 megaton thermonuclear weapon, codename Grapple Y, at Christmas in the central Pacific. This was one of nine atmospheric nuclear tests during Operation Grapple, the program to develop the British Hydrogen Bomb.

As leaders gather in London the commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), we call for justice for the survivors of these nuclear tests.

We write to you as participants in Operation Grapple – sailors and soldiers from New Zealand and Fiji who supported the British Empire in the 1950s. Between May 1957 and September 1958, we served in the armed forces during the nuclear tests at Malden and Christmas (Kiritimati) Island in the British Gilbert and Ellice Islands - today part of the Pacific nation of Kiribati.

We call on the British Prime Minister and government to fulfil promises made 60 years ago, to address the health and environmental consequences of the UK nuclear weapons programme.

Nearly 14,000 British troops travelled to the central Pacific for the H-bomb testing program, but other Commonwealth countries were also involved. New Zealand sent aircraft and two naval frigates with 551 New Zealand sailors to support the tests. The British colony of Fiji supplied 276 Fijian participants from the Royal Fiji Military Force and the Fiji Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. Dozens of Gilbertese Islanders worked as labourers to support the Military operation. Commonwealth countries like Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji and Australia hosted radiation monitoring stations.

In the decades since the H-bomb tests, successive British governments have argued that there was no danger to participants from radioactive fallout. But as survivors of the tests, we have lost friends and colleagues to cancer, leukaemia and other illnesses that can be caused by exposure to ionising radiation. This includes Ratu Sir Sir Penaia Ganilau, the distinguished Fijian leader who witnessed the second Grapple test on Malden Island and later served as Governor General and President of Fiji.

The UK government talks of extensive safety precautions for the tests, to reduce exposure to radiation. But we know the reality. Many participants went without safety gear or radiation badges.
Some were used for difficult, dirty and dangerous tasks like dumping drums of nuclear material in the ocean or killing birds blinded by the flash of a megaton hydrogen bomb. There were many pathways to ingest or inhale radioactive isotopes.

Independent medical studies, such as research conducted by Professor Al Rowland at Massey University in New Zealand, have documented significant chromosomal translocations amongst the New Zealand sailors who joined the naval task force for Operation Grapple.

This evidence of genetic damage raises concern about possible intergenerational effects for our children and grandchildren. Children of Gilbertese plantation workers on the island suffered eye damage and other health effects from the nuclear detonations. Survivors on Christmas (Kiritimati) Island have formed the 'Association of Cancer Patients Affected by the British and American Bomb Tests'.

Today, governments and citizens across the Pacific region call for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Many pacific governments – Kiribati, Tuvalu, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa and more – have signed the new UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This treaty has important provisions which oblige countries to support environmental remediation and assistance for the victims of the use and testing of nuclear weapons.

We thank our own governments for the medical and financial support they have already given, but believe the primary responsibility lies with the UK government. Sixty years after Operation Grapple, we call on Prime Minister Theresa May for urgent action.

* The British government should provide compensation, medical support and environmental rehabilitation to all people affected by Operation Grapple, including New Zealand and Fijian military personnel and I-Kiribati living on Kiritimati Island.

* The British government should provide funds for an independent medical study to investigate potential intergenerational health effects for the children and grandchildren of Operation Grapple participants from New Zealand, Kiribati and Fiji – as it has done for the UK veterans.

* The British Government should meet its obligations under article 6 of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) ''to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective control''.

We call on all the Commonwealth countries – including the three nuclear weapon states United Kingdom, India and Pakistan – to sign and ratify the Treaty on the prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, with its important provisions on assistance for survivors of nuclear testing.

As fellow citizens of the Commonwealth, we look to the citizens of the United Kingdom to support our call for justice.

Roy Sefton QSM, Palmerston North New Zealand.
Former sailor, HMNZS Pukaki, witnessed five nuclear tests.
Chair, New Zealand Nuclear Test Veterans Association. (NZNTVA).

Paul Ah Poy, Suva Fiji.
Former sailor, Fiji Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, witnessed seven nuclear tests.
President, Fiji Nuclear Veterans Association (FNVA)

AND SOME PICS FROM ONE OF MY VISITS
 

I visit Kiribati on a regular basis and took these recently.

They show what was the Officers' Mess (now the Captain Cook Lodge) and the bitumen dump after Grapple and the "clean up'.

MJG