Deuterium Blues...

I wanna tell you a story...although I can't vouch for it's veracity yet...

In the very north of Scotland, the Shetland Isles in fact, there were two RAF bases during the war. RAF Saxa Vord, and RAF Sullum Voe. Saxa Vord, as some may know, is/was a long distance radar station, manned only by Naval personnel, and served to warn us of impending raids by the Luftwaffe. All highly secret of course at the time.

RAF Sullum Voe may also have played a part in the war effort, perhaps quite an important one. And this is the story that I'm trying to piece together.

I'm sure you all know the "Heroes of Telemark" story, about how Norwegian resistance fighters sabotaged Nazi efforts at creating Deuterium, aka Heavy Water. The folklore - and the famous film - tell the significant details of the story, as they were known at the time. Several of the heroes also played characters in the film, to seal their memories forever in cellulose.

The story goes that RAF Sullum Voe provided backup during this operation, and was the place that the Norwegian fishing boats returned to, against the odds, bringing the heroes back to safety.

What is less clear, is how my Grandfather managed to lose his RAF greatcoat in Norway during the incident, and was promptly ordered to pay for another one...

More details hopefully forthcoming about my Grandfather, Frederic Claud(e)Warren from the RAF Personnel site at RAF Innsworth.

This might be interesting.

Let you know.

Sergei