VANGUARD E-BOOK
© Copyright 2020
Peter William Hall
The right of Peter William Hall to be identified as author of
this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All Rights Reserved
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may be made without written permission.
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A CIP catalogue record for this title is
available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781784657 09-3
Vanguard Press is an imprint of
Pegasus Elliot MacKenzie Publishers Ltd.
www.pegasuspublishers.com
First Published in 2020
Vanguard Press
Sheraton House Castle Park
Cambridge England
Preface
This is a novel set in 1960, a period when the Cold War was quite ‘hot’ for some people and tensions between ‘East’ and ‘West’ were also high. Britain was investing a lot of money in developing both offensive (mainly nuclear) and defensive (mainly missile) weapons for the protection of Britain and its allies. The dictum was that if Britain was attacked and had to declare war then the RAF had failed in its task as a deterrent force.
Some very real incidents that occurred during the author’s period of service with the Royal Air Force inspired the imagination and this novel was written. However, all characters and events in the novel are fictitious. While some real places and RAF bases have been used in the novel, none of the events actually occurred on them and no character in the novel served on them.The hero is a composite of about five corporals that the author knew. Most of the corporals that the author served with were well-educated, highly trained and intelligent persons, far from the picture that is painted of corporals by some authors and parts of the media.
It was an interesting time to serve in the RAF. Describing some of my service in the RAF to a young person many years later brought the comment that it sounded like a James Bond story. I had never thought of it like that, nor, I am sure, did any of those that I served with. To us, it was all part of doing our duty and we just took it as a matter of course. The young person’s comment helped to inspire the author to write this novel.
Peter Hall
LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS USED IN RED HAWK RISING
As with any organisation, acronyms relating to its sphere of work tend to be developed and used by the staff both in documents and everyday conversation. The Royal Air Force was no exception and a list of those used in this novel is set out below. Not all are of the RAF but were used in conversation.
RAFRoyal Air Force
WRAFWomen’s Royal Air Force
A.V.MAir Vice Marshall
C.O.Commanding Officer
LACLeading Aircraftman
SAC Senior Aircraftman
SMOSenior Medical Officer
JSTUJoint Service Trials Unit
MoDMinistry of Defence
MT Motor Transport
MUMaintenance Unit
NAAFINavy Army Air Force Institute
RAERoyal Aircraft Establishment
SAMSurface to Air Missile
UHFUltra High Frequency(used in radio transmissions)
ISUIntelligence Security Unit (RAF Internal Security – invented for novel)
KGBKomitet Gosudstvennoy Besopasnosti (in English – Committee for State Security - it
covered both foreign intelligence and domestic security)
MI5Military Intelligence 5 (responsible for internal security in Britain)
MI6Military Intelligence 6 (responsible for external security related to Britain)
SIBSpecial Investigation Branch (of the Police)
SOESpecial Operations Executive (set up during World War 2)
DMUDiesel Multiple Unit (Diesel-engined railcars coupled together)
ETAEstimated Time of Arrival
HGVHeavy Goods Vehicle (Road transport – lorries, semi-trailers etc.)
Abbreviations
Admin.Administration
i/cin charge
Tech.Technician
u/sunserviceable
CHAPTER 1
The pilot of the RAF Pembroke transport aircraft radioed in his expected time of arrival (ETA) at RAF Kinloss. His route would overfly the Cairngorm Mountains. It was mid-afternoon late in November 1958. The crew had been held up at RAF Turnhouse, near Edinburgh, while delivering some urgently required spares. With early snowfalls it had been decided to fly the spares in rather than risk them by road. Now on the last leg of the trip the crew was tired and hungry. They had an urgently required replacement ECM (electronic countermeasures) unit to be delivered to RAF Kinloss and to be fitted to one of the PR Shackletons. A wall of cumulus stretched from the Cairngorms. It was too wide to go around and they were already on a descent pattern, although with sufficient altitude to clear the mountains. They entered a world of white. Shortly after they entered the cloud the port engine coughed and spluttered. The pilot tried coaxing it but to no avail. Then the starboard engine followed suit and the aircraft was losing power and altitude. The co-pilot radioed in their location, giving the co-ordinates and their compass heading, as the pilot struggled with the engines. The control tower at RAF Kinloss said that they would keep the channel open. Also listening in to the drama were two other parties; one was the RAF Mountain Rescue team at RAF Leuchars and the other a Russian radio operator on a Russian trawler off the coast of Aberdeen.
Suddenly, the port engine cut out and the aircraft drifted off course. The plane started to lose altitude. Despite the cold, the two crew members were perspiring as they tried to maintain control of the aircraft and restore altitude and course. Then the starboard engine cut out and the co-pilot radioed the situation as he and the pilot desperately tried to re-start the engines but to no avail. The noise of the engines was replaced by a whistling sound as the plane lost height. Suddenly, the wispiness of the cloud was replaced by a solid white wall. Five seconds later
