Cypher machines maintenance and restoration spanning sixty years

Cryptologia, Jul 2003 by Clarkson, Dorothy

ABSTRACT: We describe the life and times of a servicing mechanic for cypher equipment for the Royal Air Force during World War II and an opportunity to serve again as a cypher machine restorer for Bletchley Park Museum.

KEYWORDS: Cypher equipment, maintenence, repair, restoration, Bletchley Park.

THE EARLY YEARS

I was born on 25th March 1922. My love affair with aeroplanes started around the age of seven. We moved to a house close to the perimeter of the old Croydon Airport and I soon found that by sitting on the top of a stepladder in the bathroom I could see over the fence and watch the aeroplanes. When Amy Johnson returned from her flight to Australia they put a rope all round the airfield, inside the fence and let the public in. She was driven round, sitting on the folded hood of a large open tourer, followed by 'Jason' (her aircraft) on a trailer - and I was there!

At about the same time I became fascinated by small mechanical devices such as clocks and musical boxes and was encouraged by my father. He had wanted to be an engineer but that was not acceptable at that time for the son of a professional person (his father was a solicitor) and he had to choose between the law and medicine. He took medicine and after completing the general part of the course opted for dentistry. He was a very good model maker, working in brass and silver, making small, delicate models of cars, ships, aeroplanes, etc. He was born left-handed but encouraged by an enlightened tutor to use both hands equally. He taught me in the same way and I cannot remember a time when I was not using tools and making models, mainly in wood. At an early age

I was given a medium-size Meccano construction set which was added to year by year. During the twenties my father started building his own wireless sets and I became interested in this although understanding very little, if any, of the principles involved.

In the thirties we visited the Hendon Air Displays a number of times and on one holiday visited Southampton to see the flying boats. I also saw the airship R101 as she set off on her ill-fated final voyage.

WITH THE R. A. F.-WW II AND AFTER

With such a background it was almost inevitable that I should join the Royal Air Force so in 1937, at the age of fifteen and a half, I became an Aircraft Apprentice, enrolled for a three-year course to become a Wireless Operator Mechanic. On the outbreak of the second war the course was shortened and the trade amended to Wireless Electrical Mechanic. In April 1940 I became a fully-fledged Airman, theoretically capable of servicing, maintaining and if necessary repairing any item of R. A. F. wireless and associated equipment, including vehicles and petrol and diesel driven generating sets. Towards the end of the main course we were given a short but intensive 'hands-on' course on the Typex cypher machine, with no manuals, no drawings and definitely no note-taking. I believe the machine used was a Mark I as it had solid drums, of which only three were driven and of course no plug boards.

By June 1944 I had attained the rank of sergeant, the trade had again been redesignated - as Wireless Fitter - and I was serving with a Mobile Signals Servicing Unit, responsible for the maintenance (and modification as required) of mobile radar units and their associated radio equipment, the unit being staffed by equal numbers of N. C. O. Wireless and Radar Fitters, equipped with vehicles fitted for one or the other function.

Shortly after 'D' Day the Unit landed on the beaches at Arromanche and set up in a small valley a mile or two inland. Following the break-out through Caen we progressed via Amiens to Brussels where we occupied a large Citroen garage and showroom on the outskirts, plus the next-door house for accommodation.

Sometime thereafter I was accompanying one of the radar fitters on a routine visit to a mobile unit when we were asked if either of us knew anything about cypher machines as theirs had developed a fault which they could not fix. I was able to effect a repair and this was automatically reported to Command (as the fault had been), the upshot of which was that thenceforth I was on call for any Typex servicing required, this taking priority over my normal duties. During this time I came in contact with both a Mark III and a Mark VI although not required to work on either.

Following the end of hostilities my position was regularised and I was designated 'Senior Servicing Mechanic, Electro-mechanical Cypher Equipment, B. A. F. O. Command' which sounds very grand and implies at least some staff but in fact I was not only the Senior Mechanic but also the Junior Mechanic and all those in between - in other words, the one and only! I was supplied with a vehicle equipped with a complete Mark II, a set of sub-assemblies, a selection of components, the necessary tools and test equipment and most important, a set of straight-wired test drums and given the task of visiting every Typex-equipped unit once a month to service, clean and check their machines. From then on eight out of every ten days were spent 'on the road', working, eating and sleeping in my vehicle, except for the period of the airlift when I was transported to and from Berlin in noisy, doorless (therefore very draughty) Dakotas (C47's) which on a previous flight may have been carrying flour or coal. For these journeys I had only a minimal toolkit, any replacement parts requested and the test drums, in their heavy steel case, chained to my wrist. As time passed and units were disbanded the workload decreased but I continued servicing Typex machines until my return to UK in October 1948, becoming so familiar with the Mark II that I could probably have serviced them in my sleep!