Introduction

by Owen H
I have just received a card from Mary to say that Joe Støbseth Brown passed away in early April only 4 weeks after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.  I only knew Joe from his time a RAF Boulmer in 1968, but many of you must know him from the Norwegian sites where he met his wife and latterly on GWS25.

Tributes

from Cyril F
Sorry to hear about Joe.  I worked with him in the early days of South Africa and found him to be a nice bloke and a very competent Engineer.

from John B
I was very sorry to learn of the death of Joe Brown. I met Joe at Kletkovfjell/Skjerstad in Norway. I was the system engineer for the NATO Early Warning Chain contract;  I arrived on site in March 1961 to assist with the commissioning of the first of the two CRCs. (Bob Horton was the Site Manager and had requested my attendance).

I recall Joe arrived a few weeks later,specifically to commission the four transmitters (2X SR1000s & 2XSR1030s) beneath the radomed S247, and the SR1000 at each of the 2X S244s. Joe and I became good friends; we shared an interest in books and film, and he had a lively mind.

I will not go into the acute problems we experienced with this first installation of the transmitters;  however, with some amusement, I remember one occasion when I my head was just about to emerge from climbing up the vertical ladder into the transmitter room ''Duck!'' was yelled, and a spanner whizzed a foot or two above me.  Joe and Charlie Lalonde (both having short fuses) had disagreed over a technical diagnosis about a problem they had been experiencing.  Peace and calm was soon restored.
Joe and I met at Gordon Hunter's site Honningsvaag three months later when he arrived to check out its
transmitters. Joe used to look me up if he was passing through Church Green.

In mid-1967, I was a member of Space Communication Division, and Apollo had been successfully handed over the year before.  Dr Eastwood (by this time the Chief Scientist of Marconi) asked me to undertake a lecture tour of South Africa as guest of the Nations' IEE to tell them about the Marconi Earth Station on Ascension Island, as it was quite a technical 'first' at the time.  I had asked David Simmons, MD of Marconi South Africa, who was going to be my Host when I arrived, if, after we'd visited the PTT in Pretoria, could I visit the Radar Bunker which was under construction? (My interest stemmed from the initial Technical Proposal I had written for Peter Max in 1959/60, and who subsequently took it to South Africa, returning with an ITP).  Anyway, I remember meeting John Prosser of Mott Hay and Anderson (who I had previously met in ROTOR days), and more importantly, renewed my acquaintance with Joe, who fortunately was on site.

from Owen H
We have mixed memories of Joe, how over a few brandies in the Hope and Anchor he won the war, sailed around the world and many more achievements. Also Edmond dropping the wheel nuts of his Saab down the drain in Alnmouth while he was changing a wheel.

from Barry F

I think I could write a book of funny stories about Joe. I can still remember trying to help Joe lift the iron grate in Alnmouth High Street to recover the wheel nuts. I also remember him telling me how he forced an Australian navy destroyer to give way in Sydney harbour when he claimed right of way in his little sailing yacht.