the raf to hong kong - part 1
by Tony Alger
After leaving school in 1968 like everyone I was glad to be out of there to start working life. I had several jobs but at the ripe old age of 19 I decided to join the RAF. I did my training and qualified as Ground Communications Technician and was posted to some dingy old places but came up trumps in 1972 with a two year tour to Hong Kong. Because of my status I was sent up a mountain to a place called Tai Mo Shan which of course was the highest point on the island in order for us to ‘watch the skies’ over China. As most of you are aware that part of the world is susceptible to some rather nasty Typhoons and I had my fair share of them. One story that will stay with me forever during this bad weather is as follows:
I worked shifts and was the only Ground Communications guy on my team so therefore I had to man both the Transmission and Receiving stations over the course of my shift. This meant that I had to stay on my own in the building(s) which were situated approximately 100 yards down the north side of the mountain (Transmission site) and 100 yards down the south side of the of the mountain (Receiving site). The peak was of course occupied by a rather large Radar Dome and the Operations centre was built on a flattened concourse. The majority of the team there were a mix of Radar Engineers and Air Traffic Controllers but because of our remote location we had our own security team in the shape of RAF Police and their Guard dogs.
One night we got the call that a Typhoon was on the way and along with it the possibility of spending up to three days waiting for it to pass over us before we go outside. Part of the procedure for me was to collect enough rations from the Operations centre for me to survive for three days and take it back to the Transmission site as invariably the storms hit hardest from the south and therefore I had more shelter there.
Well what I didn’t appreciate was that the air temperature and pressure drops significantly before the arrival of the storm front causing a cold front to form which centered around the mountain. As the normal day temperature was invariably above 30C with humidity to match we of course had our fair share of animals now looking for somewhere nice and warm to hide. What better than the air exhaust vent from red hot Radar system or in my case a Transmission site. I collected my rations and by this time it was dark and low cloud was forming so I could only see a few feet in front of me. Therefore I followed the ‘white line’ painted on the road that led me back only to come face to face with a rather large Chinese Cobra that was trying to get to the Radar Dome warm air vent situated to the side of me. I froze on the spot and thankfully it did the same. Well after what seemed like an age of it raising its head and with me fixing my torch beam in its eyes, it lowered itself and slithered out of my path. I gently dragged myself along to the door of the Transmission site where yet another snake (only a small one this time) had coiled itself on a dustbin lid right next to the entrance door. I found a broom and placed it on top of the snake and quickly jumped in the doorway and slammed it shut.
The process for seeing a snake on site was to report it to the Police but typically they would send their dog ahead of them and because we had already lost two dogs whilst I was there through snake bites, I kept this one to myself and hoped that the snake would find its own way off site when the storm passed. I stayed up the mountain for two days after that but I waited for my relief to come down to the site rather than me venture out on my own to meet him. And by the way, I did change my underpants a few times that night!
After leaving school in 1968 like everyone I was glad to be out of there to start working life. I had several jobs but at the ripe old age of 19 I decided to join the RAF. I did my training and qualified as Ground Communications Technician and was posted to some dingy old places but came up trumps in 1972 with a two year tour to Hong Kong. Because of my status I was sent up a mountain to a place called Tai Mo Shan which of course was the highest point on the island in order for us to ‘watch the skies’ over China. As most of you are aware that part of the world is susceptible to some rather nasty Typhoons and I had my fair share of them. One story that will stay with me forever during this bad weather is as follows:
I worked shifts and was the only Ground Communications guy on my team so therefore I had to man both the Transmission and Receiving stations over the course of my shift. This meant that I had to stay on my own in the building(s) which were situated approximately 100 yards down the north side of the mountain (Transmission site) and 100 yards down the south side of the of the mountain (Receiving site). The peak was of course occupied by a rather large Radar Dome and the Operations centre was built on a flattened concourse. The majority of the team there were a mix of Radar Engineers and Air Traffic Controllers but because of our remote location we had our own security team in the shape of RAF Police and their Guard dogs.
One night we got the call that a Typhoon was on the way and along with it the possibility of spending up to three days waiting for it to pass over us before we go outside. Part of the procedure for me was to collect enough rations from the Operations centre for me to survive for three days and take it back to the Transmission site as invariably the storms hit hardest from the south and therefore I had more shelter there.
Well what I didn’t appreciate was that the air temperature and pressure drops significantly before the arrival of the storm front causing a cold front to form which centered around the mountain. As the normal day temperature was invariably above 30C with humidity to match we of course had our fair share of animals now looking for somewhere nice and warm to hide. What better than the air exhaust vent from red hot Radar system or in my case a Transmission site. I collected my rations and by this time it was dark and low cloud was forming so I could only see a few feet in front of me. Therefore I followed the ‘white line’ painted on the road that led me back only to come face to face with a rather large Chinese Cobra that was trying to get to the Radar Dome warm air vent situated to the side of me. I froze on the spot and thankfully it did the same. Well after what seemed like an age of it raising its head and with me fixing my torch beam in its eyes, it lowered itself and slithered out of my path. I gently dragged myself along to the door of the Transmission site where yet another snake (only a small one this time) had coiled itself on a dustbin lid right next to the entrance door. I found a broom and placed it on top of the snake and quickly jumped in the doorway and slammed it shut.
The process for seeing a snake on site was to report it to the Police but typically they would send their dog ahead of them and because we had already lost two dogs whilst I was there through snake bites, I kept this one to myself and hoped that the snake would find its own way off site when the storm passed. I stayed up the mountain for two days after that but I waited for my relief to come down to the site rather than me venture out on my own to meet him. And by the way, I did change my underpants a few times that night!
