The helicopter took off at 08:00 hours, when the mist had lifted sufficiently to allow safe take-off. Not long afterwards, the police arrived from Aviemore to take statements. They went to Glenmore Lodge first and met with the Mancunian Mountaineers’ leader, who gave them a statement. Then they went across to the RAF camp-site and first met with Flying Officer Crombie and Flight Sergeant Bradley. Following that, they interviewed the rest of Bradley’s team, spending more time with Corporals Hill and Stanier because they found the individual climbers. This all took about ninety minutes. The police then shared a mug of tea with the RAF men as they awaited the return of the helicopter. About 10:00 hours they heard the beat of a helicopter’s rotors coming in from the north. It landed to the east of the camping site. As the helicopter descended, Flying Officer Crombie and Flight Sergeant Bradley walked across to meet it. The ‘Chief’ disembarked wearing casual mountaineering clothes and boots. There no salutes, just handshakes and they walked across to the camp-site. The rest of the team were drawn up in two ranks, waiting for the ‘Chief’ to arrive. As he got close, they all came to attention. The ‘Chief’ walked up, stopped at attention and acknowledged the men. “Good to meet you all. Let’s go inside (waving to the main tent) where we can talk and relax.” Inside the tent, Air Vice-Marshall Denby met with the police inspector and sergeant and spoke with them briefly. A police photographer accompanied them. They left, led by the three Mountain Rescue airmen and headed for the helicopter. It would then take them as close as possible to the site of the rescue and wait while the police made their examination. The weather was fine and the cloud high enough for flight to the top of the mountain. The air was cold but not enough to have serious frost. The police should be able to do their work quickly.
In the tent, the men were told to relax, get mugs of tea and be ready for a review of their activities by the ‘Chief’. They seated themselves around the tables roughly in a circle and waited for the ‘Chief’ to speak. “It isn’t often that I get a chance to meet any of you and I’m sure that you understand why. There are those in Air Ministry who think that the RAF should not have an Internal Intelligence Unit and leave everything to MI5. Let me say to you now that you are all proving the worth of this unit. The USSR is very good at spying and it has a lot of sympathisers in the UK. Your work regularly uncovers activity that would be to the detriment of the RAF and to the nation. Too often the enemy finds loopholes and obtains valuable information. Our job is to plug the loopholes and reduce the efficiency of the enemy’s spy network. It is important that you maintain a high level of efficiency in carrying out your normal duties so that our intelligence work remains under cover. Fortunately, we have a high level of support from ‘Movements’ and the different groups when we need to send any of you out on detachment. I will meet with you all individually while I am here. It will be good to know each of you personally rather than through a photograph and a file. We’ll have a meal together and I will go out in the field briefly with some of you. Major Garasov, whom you rescued, is the military attaché at the Russian Consulate in Manchester. He is also a member of the KGB and therefore keen to get our secrets. Thanks to the efforts of some of you, he has been thwarted several times in the last year. We have worked in co-operation with MI5 where it is of value. The rescue that you carried out yesterday has put you high in the esteem of the general public. The media has been warned to stay away so you won’t be bothered. That’s all for the time being. Thank you and good luck.” AVM Denby then sat down, asked for a mug of tea and relaxed among the men. The ‘Chief’ flew out in the helicopter that afternoon.
The next morning the team were busy packing up camp and loading their 3-tonner when a radio message came through for Flying Officer Crombie. He took the handset and identified himself. Then he switched to scrambler on the pack. Everyone paused in what they were doing and waited for the conversation to end. They were keen to set off for RAF Leuchars. For Corporal Hill it would mean a week’s leave before returning to his unit. The conversation finished and the men waited expectantly. Crombie looked around at their faces. He didn’t know whether to laugh at their expressions but decided to keep a serious look. “Okay, team. Start unpacking and set up camp again. We are all on detachment from our units and now on special duties. I’ll explain later,” he told them.
CHAPTER 18
When the team had set up camp again, Crombie called them all into the main tent and explained the situation. “That was a call from the ‘Chief’. There is an intelligence flap on. A Wing Commander Hamilton from MI5 is on his way up here. It is all to do with the Russian military attaché that we rescued. He is still in Aviemore hospital at the insistence of the doctors there. As soon as the Russians received the news, they wanted to move him. MI6 received intelligence that Major Garasov is no longer in favour and is to be returned to Russia, partly due to Andy here thwarting some Russian plans more than once. MI5 learned that the Russians are sending some people up to forcibly remove him if
