MindOverMatter
Member
In November 1957 my father took part in Operation Grapple where "H" bomb No 4 was dropped just 25-30 miles from the airfield and main camp on Xmas Island. He was ground borne at the time having been involved in SAR and patrolling the exclusion zone around the test site in a 206 Squadron Shackleton. I have scaned his airmail letter home to his parents describing what happened and an entry from his personal diary.
Operation Grapple 1956-1957 60 page booklet
All previous British atomic tests had taken place in and around Australia but for testing weapons of the scope involved in Operation Grapple they needed somewhere more isolated. It needed favourable wind and weather conditions for air and sea operations and an island in the Pacific was deemed most suitable. Christmas Island was remote from any inhabited area and had a suitable harbour for landing supplies and scope to build an airfield from scratch capable of handling Valiants and other large aircraft like the Shackleton.
Aircrew waiting to board a Shackleton en route to Christmas Island. My father is back row under the 6.
The logistics to maintain a large force of various types of aircraft 10,000 miles from U.K. maintenance facilities was immense. Not forgetting the fact that some aircraft were war-time transports and others the latest up-to-date medium bombers. In the end 10,000 tons of ground equipment and spares in 15,000 packing cases was sent out and thats not including fuel, oil and compressed gasses etc.
All the armed services were involved in detailed and varied ways. Put simply the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy sorted sea patrols and transport. The Army did the building work and the RAF as well as dropping the bomb did meteorological reconnaissance, cloud analysis after the burst, transport, SAR and patrolled the exclusion zone.
Operation Grapple 1956-1957 60 page booklet
All previous British atomic tests had taken place in and around Australia but for testing weapons of the scope involved in Operation Grapple they needed somewhere more isolated. It needed favourable wind and weather conditions for air and sea operations and an island in the Pacific was deemed most suitable. Christmas Island was remote from any inhabited area and had a suitable harbour for landing supplies and scope to build an airfield from scratch capable of handling Valiants and other large aircraft like the Shackleton.
Aircrew waiting to board a Shackleton en route to Christmas Island. My father is back row under the 6.
The logistics to maintain a large force of various types of aircraft 10,000 miles from U.K. maintenance facilities was immense. Not forgetting the fact that some aircraft were war-time transports and others the latest up-to-date medium bombers. In the end 10,000 tons of ground equipment and spares in 15,000 packing cases was sent out and thats not including fuel, oil and compressed gasses etc.
All the armed services were involved in detailed and varied ways. Put simply the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy sorted sea patrols and transport. The Army did the building work and the RAF as well as dropping the bomb did meteorological reconnaissance, cloud analysis after the burst, transport, SAR and patrolled the exclusion zone.
