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View Full Version : Special Operator The Rise and Fall of a cut-price Spy



Chrisb1379
17th January 2016, 15:06
A new e-book published on Amazon Kindle and on Smashwords: This book would be of interest mainly to Ex Wops, Telegs and Spec Ops and related trades but maybe other types will find it of interest also as it is all RAF involvement.
SYNOPSIS
Eighteen years of electronic spying around the world - one man’s sometimes serious, sometimes light hearted view of ‘The Game’ commencing with his 1950s recruitment into the little known Y Service. The action leads us first of all to Hong Kong there to intercept the radio communications of Chinese Communist military units. Such covert employment was not all work and no play and details of some ‘off duty’ time enjoying the sights, sounds and other nefarious delights to be experienced in the Colony are touched upon.
A complete change of climate takes the author and two colleagues to Berlin, during the Cold War the spy capital of the world. Once in situ they were to search the ether and report on Soviet and other eastern Bloc Diplomatic and Illegal radio transmissions. The procedures used by Soviet agents were different from the norm of radio traffic and for interest are described in detail. A brief encounter in a bar specifically for the use of the intelligence community in Berlin with one of, if not the most famous, spy of the 20th Century gives another insight into that twilight, secret world.
After a most interesting and revealing two and a half years in Berlin the scene changes yet again to the Southern Hemisphere, this time on assignment to the Australian Defence Signals Bureau in Melbourne. Here the author was employed as an analyst of intercepted signals traffic supplied by a 'Third Party' on the island of Taiwan.
The final overseas tour was to last four years, a full eighteen months longer than a normal overseas tour of duty in the RAF. This took place during 'Confrontation', the 1963 – 1966 so-called undeclared war between Indonesia and the newly formed state of Malaysia. Operational details of a mobile unit specially formed to cover this conflict and staffed by a number of Special Operators/Indonesian linguists are explained in some depth. Much of the time was spent living under canvas on the Malay Peninsular, in Borneo and in the New Territories of Hong Kong where Special Operators with a Chinese Language qualification were also employed.
On returning to the UK in 1968 the author had the misfortune to find that he had a so far undetected Soviet Spy as a colleague. This traitor was subsequently unmasked, charged, tried and sentenced at the Old Bailey to 21 years in prison. As a result of this episode the author, who had been the line manager of this Spy suffered from the unwelcome attentions of the security services that were to lead to him having to leave the world of electronic espionage and eventually the RAF.
Links: . https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/603252 or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SPECIAL-OPERATOR-rise-fall-cut-price-ebook/

Jagan
17th January 2016, 16:33
Chris, thanks for posting, but can you tell me how much of the book content is about RAF? I am fully supportive of books connected to the RAF, but if this is more of an Intel/ espionage book.. then may not be relevant here.

To clarify : if this "Y Service" is part of the RAF .. then you are good.. if not, and it is part of MI5 or MI6 or some other Intel agency.. then its not..

Chrisb1379
17th January 2016, 17:13
Conversely, elements of the RAF (and the army and Navy) are part of the Y service. This book is connected to the RAF in as much as Special Operators (Telegraphy) and Special Operators (Voice), both RAF trades in TG11 until a few years ago, now known as Intelligence Analysts. The duties of these RAF personnel were carried out at RAF Stations throughout the world, Hong Kong RAF Little Sai Wan, Germany Hamburen, Scharfholdendorf and Berlin Gatow. UK RAF Cheadle (Staffs) RAF Digby (still operational) to mention a few. There were also mobile units, one in Burma and throughout the Far East during WWII. Then there is 51 Squadron RAF, worth looking at and some of its activities are mentioned in the book. I am aware that most of the posts and input on this forum are about flying and aircraft but other things did happen in the RAF that are not often spoken of and this book covers one area. Many ex RAF personnel from other groups on the net have already shown an interest in the book, I just thought that there may be others on this forum that would also like to be aware of it. I trust this explains my reason for posting on this particular subject. I was a member of this forum previously as Elhorn and had a number of posts on other subjects.