The 367 Association

367 SIGNALS UNIT - HISTORY

The following notes have largely been compiled from the recollections of ex-members of 367 Signals Unit, as there is very little information currently available in the public domain.

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• information from two of our oldest members - Doug Whitehowles and Jim Sheader - indicates that the Unit began life in late 1942 as 367 Wireless Unit, based at Newbold Revell near Rugby.  The trained operators left the U.K. in January 1943 sailing from Liverpool for Cape Town as part of a large convoy aboard The Duchess of Richmond.  After a couple of months in Cape Town, they embarked for  Bombay on board HMT Delaware (Dilwara?). 

• after a short period at Warli Camp in Bombay,  they made the 6-day train journey to Calcutta, and were billetted in villas at Ballygunge.  Operations commenced as 367 Wireless Unit based in tents on the Chindwin River and Doug ended up at Rangoon in Burma.  There were probably three mobile D/F Units operating in Burma supporting the main intercept station in Ceylon.  The unit combined with 368 Wireless Unit at some point, and the title was changed to 367 Signals Unit on 1st October 1946 

• the units were part of the UK's military signals intelligence (Sigint) set-up, more popularly known as the 'Y' Service

• aerial photographs taken by the RAF in 1945 show that a military building existed at Little Sai Wan (Hong Kong) at that time and was fairly certainly of pre-war origin.  It is now believed that this was a signals station operated by the Army, most probably the Royal Signals.  However, an RAF Signals presence at the site in late 1941, comprising one officer, Flt Lt. Hector (Dolly) Gray, the Signals Officer from RAF Kai Tak and several other ranks is recorded in the diary of Squadron Leader Donald Hill - see Dr Philip Aston's web-site relating to "Russell's Mathematical Tables" - entry for Saturday, 13th December 1941. The aerial photographs are now held by the Map Publications Centre, Lands Department, North Point, Hong Kong.

• the two units merged in 1946 to become 367 Signals Unit, and in late 1948, operations moved to Tai Po Tsai with billets at Kai Tak

• in 1950, the first members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) joined the unit with temporary billets at Lye Mun, and in July 1951, operations began at Little Sai Wan alongside the existing unit at Tai Po Tsai, and billets were established at Cape Collinson.

• in 1952, 367SU linguists were operating from Batty's Belvedere atop The Peak, with billets at Lye Mun, but in the Spring of 1953, all billets moved to RAF Little Sai Wan

• The unit insignia was designated in July 1953 - 'Out of water barry wavy argent/azure a rock proper (grey) thereon a double headed dragon passant Or' with the motto 'Nihil celerius' - nothing swifter.  The rock on water symbolises the location of the unit - Hong Kong - at the time of the award in 1953.  The double headed dragon is also associated with the area and is symbolic of watchfulness.

• [Thanks to Albert Forsyth for this information]  

• between 1953 and 1958, Little Sai Wan was developed as a fully integrated operational and residential site, with all the facilities of a non-flying RAF camp.  Also in 1958, the first MOD civilian operators commenced work at Little Sai Wan and Batty's Belvedere.

• there were D/F outstations of the unit at Kong Wei, RAF Sek Kong in the New Territories, and RAF Detachment, Labuan in what was then British North Borneo - now Sabah, a Federal Territory of Malaysia since 1963.

• in 1961, the last Regular and National Service wireless operators and linguists arrived and the phasing out of RAF personnel began.  Civilian operations were progressively moved to Batty's Belvedere. 

• in January and February, 1962, the remaining RAF personnel of 367 Signals Unit were re-billeted at Kai Tak. The Little Sai Wan base was taken over by civilians as 'Composite Signals Organization, Little Sai Wan' - part of GCHQ. 

• in May, 1980, penetration of Little Sai Wan by hostile agents was alleged in the book 'GCHQ: The Negative Asset' by former civilian operator, Jock Kane. His book became the subject of a High Court injunction in May, 1984, effectively preventing its publication in England (see p.353 'GCHQ: The Secret Wireless War 1900 - 1986' by Nigel West)

• in 1982, the Composite Signals Unit moved from Little Sai Wan to Chung Hom Kok, west of Stanley, and the buildings at Little Sai Wan were used by a variety of Government organizations, including the Fire Training School. In early 1987, the base was used as a temporary camp for Vietnamese boat refugees, and further land reclamation for the building of a new housing scheme was underway.

• finally, in 1988, the RAF buildings at Little Sai Wan were demolished.

• the physical changes occurring over the period 1957 - 2000 are clearly evident in our collection of photos.