John Scully

Operation Antler Participant John is an 83 year old widower with 2 sons and grandsons. He served in the RAF as an air-frame mechanic from 1956 to 1961. In June 1957, he was posted to Australia to take part in operation "Antler" in support of the British nuclear testing program. Soon after arriving at RAAF Edinburgh field he was flown to Maralinga where he joined a team of other air-frame mechanics and fitters. Under the supervision of a Vickers Armstrong engineer, their task was to repair 2 Supermarine Swifts which had been used in the "Buffalo" tests and had only superficial damage. The idea was to use them in the "Antler" tests. Afterwards, he witnessed one of the tests along with other servicemen 15 miles from ground zero. He came back to the UK in 1957 and in February 1959 was posted again to Australia, this time he was part of a "Health Physics" team working in conjunction with the servicing of 76 squadron Canberras. He came back to the UK in May 1960.