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Barry Pettican

Page history last edited by Ian Gillis 5 years, 2 months ago Saved with comment

 

 

 

Some reflections on a career (mostly) with Marconi Radar Systems  1967 -1998

by Barry Pettican

 

When I joined as an 18-year-old student apprentice in 1963 it was still called "Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Company", with headquarters at New Street. The company had several product divisions, which included Radar Division. I still have a hardcover, 1-inch thick, 1963 MWT product manual which includes the company’s radar products of that year. The foreword for the Radar section reads:

 
"Born out of the necessity for survival during a world conflict, radar is today permanently associated with the safety of mankind. Due to the phenomenal advance of aircraft speeds it has now become the very basis of our most important protective services- no longer a mere aid."

 
The catalogue lists, illustrates and describes in detail, contemporary radar systems for warships, coast watching, air traffic control, storm detection, height finding, signal processing and displays.

 

In 1968 ownership was taken over by the GEC and the name of the company changed to The Marconi Company. A number of subsidiary businesses were derived from the original Product Divisions, to promote growth and development under their own managements. Marconi Radar Systems was led by MD John Sutherland.

 

In 1967, having completed a Marconi Student apprenticeship with a final year specialism in control with electronics, I was offered a permanent post and opted to join the Research Division. I was based at Guy’s Farm, Writtle which was the base for the Mechanical Engineering Research Group.  There were several specialist sections based there and I was in the Servo Section under Ernie Hoare (later he joined Marconi Communications). My first project was Goonhilly 2, a satellite tracking station in Cornwall for the (then) GPO. This project was under the control of the (then) Space Communications Division Management. There were other engineers in the Servo Section of the Research Group working on Radar Division products. Several of these, who were later to join Marconi Radar Systems, were working on radar development projects. In particular, Don Rainbird who I recall, was involved in S600 series and height finders at that time.


Until 1969 I was primarily involved in the later stage of the servo design and commissioning for the Goonhilly 2 main servo drives. The parabolic main reflector is 90 feet diameter. Our section also had design responsibility for the sub reflector and controls for the spinning offset feed. The Goonhilly 2 system is still there at the BT site on the Lizard peninsula. I visited in 2007 and was told by a BT engineer that this system is still used for back up work and as a test bed for their own developments. In 1968 we had a deadline to get it working for the Intelsat 3, cross Atlantic transmission of live TV via synchronous satellite from the Mexico Olympic Games.


At that time, a new naval radar project for the MOD (Navy) was also in its very early stages- a feasibility study. This work was undertaken by the Research Division and called PX430. It was for a point defence system for existing and future Royal Navy frigates.  The system involved quite a lot of electro-mechanical servo design and had quite a complex interface with the BAC (British Aircraft Corporation) missile guidance system. BAC later became BAE Systems (Guided Weapons Division). The development for the whole of the radar systems (surveillance and tracker/guidance) was the responsibility of Marconi Radar Systems, our customer was A.S.W.E. (Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment). The servo section at Guy's Farm was broken up in 1969/70 as the development phases of the project encouraged those with project-specific engineering knowledge, to be assigned to (either) the Research Division at Gt. Baddow, Marconi Communications at New Street, or part of Marconi Radar Systems Engineering at Gt. Baddow.  We had some choice as to which way we went!  I decided to join Don Rainbird who was appointed to head a new Radar Servo Section at Great Baddow. My main reason was that I had already become involved in the above development project, I wanted to continue it, and I could see lots of interesting potential. This project was officially entitled GWS 25/Seawolf by the MOD.


All Marconi Radar Systems Development Engineering based at Baddow reported to H.N.C.Ellis -Robinson (E-R).


Bruce Neale was Manager of Engineering A. He had Groups and Sections covering essential aspects and specialities of radar system development; transmitters, microwave, receivers, signal processing and control systems. Antenna design was subcontracted to the specialists in research division and this antenna group was later headed by John Mark. (a future MRSL Technical Director). Some other Engineering A names I recall were Ron Sunderland, Denis Thorn (Transmitters); Chris Arnold, Hugh Letheren (student friend) Chris Owen, Peter Stone, Niall Davis, Paul Hibbert (Signal Processing); Jim Mason, Malcolm Austin, David Mason (another student friend and contemporary of mine),  (Receivers): Bob Bird, Les Peace (Microwave)  Mike Healey, Barry Peters, John Brewer (Mechanical).


By this time, (early 1970’s) Crompton Parkinson had moved out of their site in Writtle Road, and GEC Estates had purchased it for Marconi Radar Systems. This was used as a base for radar system manufacturing and production, the Head Office, mechanical engineering and design offices, technical services and support, data handling and software. There was quite a lot of space for future expansion.


GWS 25 was a large diverse project and there were directed subcontracts, notably to Ferranti (Bracknell)and Marconi Avionics.(Basildon). Bill Melville, who had previously been General Manager at BTH/AEI Leicester New Parks, (by now re-named Marconi Radar Systems, Leicester) transferred to Gt. Baddow to  become Senior Project Manager, GWS 25. The project team comprised Technical Coordinator (Roger Towell), Systems Manager, (Alan Forwood), sub contract management (Pat Nicholls), mathematical modelling (Graham Tickle) and trials engineers and coordinators (Terry Deane, Tony Hinds). The detailed engineering designs were mainly the responsibility of Bruce Neale’s team. Engineering A were mostly based at the top of the Baddow site near the tower. The Project team were in D Block Gt. Baddow. There were plenty of Portakabins and temporary buildings in those days. I believe Planning restrictions were quite onerous in the upper part of the Baddow site.


There were of course, quite a number of other projects running concurrently. In particular the Martello 712/713 developments, 600 series, ATC (S512 and S.S.R) and UKADGE. There were a large number of highly skilled people working in Marconi Radar Systems at this time.  GWS 25 comprised a high-performance pulse-doppler surveillance radar (Type 967) and an electro-mechanical tracker (Type 910) responsible for target acquisition, tracking, missile guidance and command up-link.


Peter Marlow was the Engineering A Project leader for the surveillance radar and Fred Gibney did likewise for the tracker aspects. Geoff Cross was Assistant Manager Engineering A.


In the mid 1970’s I transferred to Eric Gildersleve (Systems Engineering Manager).


Eric was responsible for a group of systems engineers covering a whole range of Radar Engineering projects which came under the overall management of E-R. (Dick Greenwood, Ted Overy, Mike Lewis, Tony Edwards et al.)   Tony and I shared an office in H Block, Baddow and we were still mainly concerned with GWS 25.  I learned a great deal by working with Tony, and by this time (some 10 years on in “project years”) we were already looking at further GWS 25 system upgrades. The original system had undergone some successful trials in Woomera, Aberporth and at sea. Tony tended to gravitate towards the surveillance radar upgrades and I was generally more concerned with the tracker, but we worked together so well there were no firm boundaries, and we used to bounce ideas and problems off each other. I also had the chance to work on other projects.  NATO 6S, which was an early forerunner of the current phased array PAAMS system on present-day Type 45 destroyers, was a multinational, joint-industry study project.


As projects advance in maturity so the work and job requirements change in nature and emphasis.


Roger Towell who was Technical Coordinator for Bill Melville’s GWS 25 Project team retired and I was offered the position in succession. I had my first taste of people management. I reported to Alan Forwood (Project Systems Manager) but had on going management responsibility for GWS 25 trials, subcontracts, modelling and system performance. The upgrades mentioned earlier were destined to become GWS 25 Model 1. and were being further developed and evaluated for subsequent incorporation into the ship systems. The original GWS 25 Model 0 used a television system for tracking low-level targets. Microwave radar was looking attractive as a narrow beam all weather, 24/7 alternative.


There was also much pressure from BAe and the MOD to improve ease and versatility in ship fitting giving greater flexibility, export potential , fitting to smaller types of ship and reducing the overall weight of the GWS 25 tracker radar.


In 1981 Bill Melville retired, and there was a new Marconi Company Managing Director (Arthur Walsh) based at Stanmore and a new Marconi Radar Systems MD (Keith Chittenden).  Marconi Radar was re-organized into Business Divisions - Naval, Airspace Control, and Customer Support. The engineering groups at Gt. Baddow were consolidated with other parts of the company at Writtle Road in 1982.

 
Brian Loader (previously MRSL Leicester) was appointed Naval Divisional Manager and, at that time, had responsibility for all RN business. There was no doubt that MOD (N) wanted a new lighter-weight system to do the job of GWS 25 Model 1. Under Brian’s direction and with great support from Max Stothard, Alan Forwood and others we came up with our own solution. Called 805SW in Marconi parlance and eventually, RN Type 911. We made a competitive bid for a new fixed price contract based on our proposal. i.e. development and supply of 12 double-headed ship systems, the first to be delivered in September 1984. The contract was won and placed in March 1982. It was, I believe, the first major fixed price contract placed by MOD under new contracting arrangements. Margaret Thatcher was Prime minister at that time. She was determined that contractors should carry most of the risk in high tech development projects. Marconi Radar had four subcontractors, Ferranti, (data handling and control), BAe (missile guidance and control), Marconi Space and Defence Frimley (mm wave radar) and Marconi Avionics (sightline television). The first delivery, in September 1984 of this project (which was called GWS 25 Model 3) took place at Yarrow Shipbuilders on the Clyde.


 (There was once a GWS 25 Model 2 based upon a Dutch tracking radar VM40 which was our principal competition between 1979-81)


BAe had proposed a new vertical launch version of their Seawolf missile which was to be fitted to the Type 23 frigates. They then became prime contractor for this development for the Type 23 frigates with Marconi Radar Systems continuing as the tracker radar design authority. This system (VLSW) was called GWS 26. As a result, Marconi supplied a further 18 trackers to this production contract.


There was quite a lot of temporary accommodation at Writtle Road and Naval Division were rewarded with a new divisional head office building at the lower end of the site. This became Broadsword Building and was opened in 1985. We had production on the Chelmsford site under Works Manager, Alan Shelley and for a time during the peak production periods much of the manufacturing of the ”above decks” equipment was carried out at the M.R.S.L Gateshead works under Works Manager, Bill Henderson.  The local development test site was at Bushy Hill and the production test site was at Stoughton airfield (near Leicester).


Once more, there were senior management changes afoot. Ian McBean became GEC-Marconi M.D.at Stanmore, succeeding Arthur Walsh, and David Chenery was appointed MD of Marconi Radar Systems at Chelmsford. The company still had staff at New Parks (Leicester) and additional Production at Gateshead.  New Parks had development responsibility for the Type 909 Sea Dart tracker which was extensively fitted throughout the Royal Navy (Type 42 destroyers and the through deck cruisers (HMS Ark Royal, Illustrious and Invincible).

Brian Loader became Divisional Director for all Naval business, John Winstanley for Airspace Control and Ron Emery for Customer Support. The Naval business had already had success with 800 series (802 tracker, 810 surveillance) which were well suited to the export market. Vosper Thorneycroft supplied a number of ships (fast patrol boats) fitted with these products. The 802 trackers were used for gun fire control in conjunction with associated predictor units. Naval Division won a contract to supply a Vessel Traffic Management system to Harwich Harbour Authority. A wide band tracker (Octave) for gun control was trialed with a Breda gun. This was called Sea Cobra. Marconi Radar also developed and supplied their own Gunfire Predictor into the export market (Malcolm Richardson’s team was responsible for all three of these developments).

While production of main equipment and spares for the Royal Navy continued, attention was turning to further longer-term improvements to cope with ever more sophisticated and changing threats. There was to be a midlife update programme to be awarded on a competitive basis. Marconi Radar Systems was well placed to bid, because of their wealth of existing product expertise. There were also ongoing attempts and interest in an export market for the vertical launch Seawolf system.


The most significant export order of the 1980’s was the award of a licensed manufacture contract from Samsung Aerospace for 12 ship systems for the Republic of Korea Navy. This was based upon an upgraded and modernised version of the 800 series. Norman Rome (Naval Sales Manager) was very instrumental in winning this contract. The system comprised the 1802 tracker and 1810 surveillance. The first four ship systems were built and tested in Chelmsford. The remaining eight were manufactured partly in Chelmsford and partly in South Korea. This involved transfer of all the relevant design information and quite a lot of conversion of UK standards to ROK standards for components. For a time MRSL had a temporarily resident engineer (Steven Colling) in the Samsung plant in Changwon to co-ordinate this difficult task. The whole project was called MARSPIN and was the responsibility of Terry Deane. Richard Lindsay handled the fairly complex licenced manufacturing contract/commercial aspects.


It was 1988 when the Seoul Olympics were held in South Korea, and although not directly linked to this programme it was essential that the system could be satisfactorily demonstrated during this period. The objectives were achieved.


Towards the end of the 1980’s there was a change of organisation away from the “business-nature Divisions” into a functional reporting structure. Therefore, Sales and Marketing, Finance, Commercial, Projects, Engineering, Production were led by their respective functional Directors reporting in to MD David Chenery. There were several changes of post-holders in this period; Sales was led by Dick Marston and later Tony Scott, Finance was Steve Menzies, Commercial was David Candy, Barry Ellingham, David Harrison, Engineering was John Winstanley, Projects were the responsibility of Brian Loader, Production was Bill Campbell. John Mark was the Technical Director responsible for the P.V./Research budget

In 1989 I rejoined MRSL and became Engineering and Quality Director, succeeding John Winstanley. At that time the company had about 3000 employees and 650 professional engineers working on the whole range of MRSL projects. The development of 743D Martello (for Thailand (MUSK), and Malaysia KAWAL for the RMAF) was in full swing as well as the  associated C3i. "Bacchus" (command, control and communications system, integrating various sensors) for the (then) Yugoslav Air Force, was in the final stages of customer acceptance at Chelmsford. There were a number of transportable air defence projects in progress (Turkey), ongoing Seawolf proposal work for the RN mid-life up date. A new export Seawolf project for the Royal Malaysian Navy had been won based on the 1802 tracker.


Some names associated with the above at the time.  Systems Engineering Manager - Gerry Valentine; Development Engineering Manager -Ted Overy; CIS, Command Information Systems Systems Manager - Phil Prowse; Bacchus - Project Manager - Peter Bain; Engineering Services (CAD, CASE systems introduction, Standards) - Brian Partridge; Quality Department - Manager - Peter Matthews.


At this time there was a GEC-Marconi decision to close all production at Chelmsford and transfer it to Leicester New Parks. This resulted in changes to the interfaces between engineering and production with a much greater reliance on electronic communication and email. The progressive adoption of CAD had also helped to make this a more straightforward transition, and we could not allow this transfer to delay on-going project work. It also impacted on the Quality Department as most of the Company operating procedures were being up dated and modernised for the new digital age.  
In the early 1990’s David Chenery transferred to Marconi Communication systems. Barry Ellingham and Steve Menzies transferred with him. Marconi Radar Systems now became part of Marconi Radar and Control Systems with MD Martin Read, who was based at Frimley.


At Chelmsford, Brian Loader was appointed General Manager, Rod Challis was Finance Manager and David Harrison Commercial Director. Other Directors/Managers retained their positions.


There was then another change in organization back to Product business-centred Divisions.


David Evans was responsible for Naval Business and Ron Hussey for Airspace Control.


Further changes occurred in the early 1990’s when first Brian Loader, and later David Evans both left the Marconi Radar Division of MCCS.


David Overton became Divisional Manager under Martin Read.  We had won a large new project (JORN) in the interim which was for Australian Telecom and based upon using Marconi Research, Communications and Radar expertise in tropospheric scatter technology to provide a number of very long range, linked by C3I, radar sites.  The systems were able to achieve these long ranges by reflecting signals from the troposphere, and thereby overcoming some of the limitations of “line of sight” microwave radars. They could see beyond the horizon. The system was entitled Jindalee Over the Horizon Radar Network. (JORN) Marconi Radar Systems set up offices in Australia and a number of employees worked in Australia for up to two years on a contract basis. Marconi Radar had a project office near Melbourne. Jim Chapman was the Project Director and Terry Soames the Engineering Manager, Keith Hainsworth was the Finance Manager.


In 1995 the Marconi Radar Division of MCCS moved to Eastwood House, a brand-new site built behind the New Street Works. At this time the company had shrunk to just over 1000 employees in Chelmsford. There was much surplus space at Writtle Road because there was no longer any radar production there. In contrast when I re-joined the company in 1989 there were 3500 employees.


David Overton left just before the move.


Before we moved into Eastwood House, we were informed of another change at GEC Marconi level. Martin Read had left. MCCS was defunct, and now we were to be part of GEC-Marconi Radar and Defence Systems. Peter Gershon was now MD of GEC-Marconi, Peter Brown was MD of GMRDS. Peter Brown and his head office team were to reside in Eastwood House.


When the move took place, Marconi Radar Division operated on a split-site basis. Eastwood House could only accommodate about 750. The remaining 250 which were Customer Support Division were housed at Elettra House on the Widford roundabout, previously the headquarters of Marconi International Marine Company


Roger Matthias was appointed Radar Divisional Manager.


Roger asked me to transfer to become Naval Business Divisional Manager to temporarily cover the gap left by David Evans’ departure. At that time (MCCS) we had a business focused structure again.


Roger Matthias became Technical Director of GMRDS in about 1996.


 A new Divisional Director (Alex Hannam) was appointed. Once more we changed to a functional structure. Most of the senior management team kept their positions. We are now in the period 1996 to 1998. I was Engineering Director and Quality Director for a total of 12 years, with a couple of years as Naval Business Manager running concurrently, between 1989 and 1998. In 1998 I left the company, to do freelance work.


Footnote written in December 2018.

I have remained in touch with a few of the people mentioned above, and sadly some are no longer with us. There is still a small engineering team based at Great Baddow which is now part of BAE Systems.


Recently, I watched a programme on Channel 5 called "Warship" which was following HMS Duncan. This is a Type 45 destroyer and a replacement for the Type 43 (with Marconi Leicester radars and BAe Sea Dart) mentioned above.

 

The new Type 45 ships are fitted with a Long-Range Radar, which during the mid 1990’s started life as a joint development project between Marconi Radar and Hollandse Signaal Apparaten in Hengelo, Netherlands. Roger Matthias and I were involved in early work share discussions with our Dutch counterparts.


They also have a defence system called PAAMS (Principal Anti Air Missile System) This is an evolution of early work started by NATO 6S, EMPAR and SAMSON (EMPAR was a joint Marconi/Alenia (phased array) radar development and SAMSON, which started as a Plessey (Cowes) development before the two companies became GEC-Marconi and GEC-Plessey. The EMPAR radar development was completed by Alenia and is now as in service on some Italian warships.  

The new generation RN frigates are called Type 26. These are also fitted with PAAMS and use the Sea Ceptor missile. Sea Wolf is still in service on the RN Type 23 frigates. In 1996, Marconi Radar Systems won a contract (Seawolf mid-life upgrade) to extend the useful life and performance of these systems. The newer PAAMS systems provides an improved area defence capability.


Our legacies are still out there, and will be for many years to come!


Barry Pettican  30/12/2018


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