|
Christmas
Island Visits by John Gerrish
|
|
CHRISTMAS ISLAND, - (PACIFIC) My first visit to Christmas Island was
in October 1959 when acting as co-pilot to Capt. Watkins (Chief Pilot).
The schedule used a DC6, reg.G-APOM, Blackbushe
- Gander-New York, then G-APON New York - Omaha - San Francisco - Honolulu
-Christmas Island - Honolulu - San Francisco - New York - Kingston (Jamaica)
- Bermuda - Gander - Blackbushe. The third visit to Christmas Island
was when I was in command of DC6 G-APON on
7th May 1962 when we departed LAP - Keflavik - Montreal - Chicago -
San Francisco - Honolulu -Christmas Island, arriving on the 12th May
1962. We had been delayed in Honolulu with an engine problem for over
5 hours and were looking forward to a rest (operating as a 24 hr crew,
3 pilots, 2 flight engineers, l navigator and 1 loadmaster). On arrival
a RAF Sqdn. Ldr came to the flight deck and said that we would be unloaded
within the hour for our departure to our next destination. I stated
firmly that we had reached our flight time limitations as laid down
by the Civil Aviation Authority and a return to Honolulu would breach
these regulations which I was not prepared to break under any circumstances
so, he said we should go, I said we could not. He was obviously concerned
by our presence but finally accepted the facts. He advised us to attend
a briefing at the Officers Mess as soon as possible. This we did and
he issued us with radiation detection badges to be worn at all times.
We were also issued with dark blue wrap-around glasses. The briefing
was that at 6.a.m the following morning the Americans were scheduled
to drop an atomic bomb a few miles from the island. At that time a siren
would sound indicating a B29 would be starting a bombing run from overhead.
A further countdown would follow as the aircraft reached the dropping
point, which would be some miles to the west of the island and then
a further countdown from bomb release to ignition point. We were instructed
to remain in bed, wear the blue glasses and on the countdown to ignition,
pull the bedclothes over our heads, face the wall and brace at the point
of ignition. After the briefing we dined in the mess and the officers
present told us that they had been on standby for this drop for the
last 5 days but nothing had happened and so it was unlikely to take
place in the morning! However, they had watched previous bombs and to
get a good view of events we should meet on the beach soon after 6.a.m,
watch the orbiting B29 and if the countdown to the drop proceeded, wear
our glasses, turn our backs to the west, wait for the countdown to ignition
and five seconds afterwards we could then turn to see the fireball develop However, all but one of the crew decided to go to the beach which we did the following morning. The glasses were so strong that one could look at the sun, which appeared as dull as the moon. We could see the B29 flying a race track pattern overhead, we estimated at about 25,000ft, and on the third outbound leg the countdown began. We stood with our backs to the west when bomb release was called and waited for the countdown to ignition. The first result was that the light through the glasses was as bright as the sun, and an almost immediate rush of heat. After one of the officers counted to 5 we turned to see this black and red ball in the sky, estimated at 20 miles and 10-15000ft gradually develop and expand, sucking up a column of water from the sea, then expanding upwards and outwards to eventually form the high altitude mushroom shape seen on television. A few seconds after ignition the shock wave hit us and slight damage done to a couple of huts. Nobody spoke, and we returned to the mess for breakfast before departing for San Francisco. The only comment made to us was that it had been the biggest test they had seen and they thought it was a megaton bomb at least. I cannot explain the feeling of everyone concerned, and we left, each with our disbelief at what we had seen and hoped never to experience anything like it again. Memories will last a lifetime! We night-stopped San Francisco feeling very subdued and in the morning at breakfast it was discovered that all seven of us had not experienced a normal male bodily function during our stop over despite seeing the very attractive ladies of the City. It was rather worrying as the same "lack of libido" prevailed after a night-stop in Bermuda with other British Eagle Crews! This problem quickly hit the grapevine so that when we arrived back to LAP we were greeted as "The Sterile Seven". Fortunately "things" returned to normal, but being reminded of this membership took a long time to fade. Actually the flight from San Francisco
to our next destination was also memorable. Initially it was intended
to fly to New York, refuel and proceed to Bermuda. At the flight briefing
we found that the Met. forecast was showing an excellent synoptic pressure
pattern across the whole route to New York and beyond. We were not carrying
any passengers or freight, so we could take full tanks. The navigator's
calculations indicated that at our higher than usual cruising altitude,
we would benefit from very strong tail winds the whole way, and we calculated
that if all went to plan we could fly direct to Bermuda and arrive with
the regulation two and a half hours holding fuel. After some initial
query as to the exact position of Bermuda (!), the flight plan was amended
to "cleared by A.T.C " to New York with further clearance
to Bermuda obtained approaching New York". Distance approximately
2,570 SF to NY, 775 NY to Bermuda. We completed the flight of approximately
3,345 st.miles in 12 hours at an average speed of 285m.p.h.
|
