On August 12, 2021 Geoffrey Pidgeon passed away as the result of an unfortunate fall.
He was a man who continuesly kept alive the memories of the activities of, and the people who worked in the English secret organizations to liberate occupied Europe. Among other things, through his periodical “SCU-Newsletter” and the two books written by him. He helped build the world famous Whaddon Mk-VII, a.k.a. Paraset spy radio, for which he made the signal keys. He was also actively involved in activities around Bletchley Park.
Geoffrey will be missed, may he rest in peace.
Henk – Parasetguy
Links to movies concerning SOE:
WW2 Codebreakers: Original Footage of MI6 staff at Whaddon Hall – The Hidden Film
Geoffrey Pidgeon designed, built and installed wireless equipment for SOE aircraft and MTBs
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SCU-NEWSLETTER – the last one
Dear Friends…
It is with very great sadness that we have to tell you that this will be the last SCU-Newsletter
On last Thursday morning 12th August, our father, Geoffrey very suddenly passed away while staying with his youngest son, John. He had been keenly aware and fully active to the very last of his days and working on his next newsletter with his characteristic energy.
As a regular recipient to Geoffrey’s SCU – Newsletters, you will need no introduction to Geoffrey’s background and involvement with the SIS / MI6 operation at the outlaying section of Bletchley Park in Whaddon which was responsible, among other things, for making possible the transmission of the Ultra Secret results to the Allied field commanders.
Geoffrey was one of the youngest people involved at Bletchley Park, he will be among the very last of this generation who did so much to shorten the war and save so many lives. In recognition of his contribution to this great work, he was awarded the Legion d’ Honneur by the French Ambassador and our Minister of Defence at Lancaster House in October 2019.
You will of course know that his great passion in the last years was to investigate, study and report on the essential peripheral activities that were necessary to take advantage of the vital Ultra Secret . Much of this is summed up in his fascinating book ‘Secret Wireless War‘ but the many more anecdotal, personal and related stories were what made his many newsletters such a joy to read. Alas, there will be no more, the chapter has ended as one of the last veterans of Bletchley Park takes his final bow.
(was signed:) Laurence, Michael and John.
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Geoffrey Pidgeon, author of must reads “The Secret Wireless War – The story of MI6 Communications from 1939 – 1945” and “Edgar Harrison – Soldier, Patriot and Ultra Wireless Operator to Winston Churchill“, published over the years his SCU-Newsletter, full of articles containing inside information and personal stories from him and others, working for SOE and related organisations. Very interesting for everybody, interested in WW2 spying business.
The SCU-Newsletter may be freely copied and passed to other interested people or organisations, be it as long as the content is not altered.
Below you find the list of PDF’s, currently available on www.paraset.nl.
Each item is a link and will show the content of that PDF-file on your computer, in a new tab. There you can read it, but moving the mouse top right, you will find icons that allows you to really download the article or to print it.
SCU-Newsletters don’t come regular, this explains why some years there are more than other years. With some SCU-Newsletters came attachments, those are of the same date, but have a character behind the date.
Enjoy reading!
(re-found files inserted: March, 14 2019)
Papers.pdf
2009-4 SCU.pdf
2010-1-A SCU 1_10.pdf
2010-1-B SCU Ray Small’s diary.pdf
2010-1-C SCU OSCAR.pdf
2010-1-D SCU 3-RSS.pdf
2010-2-A SCU 2-10.pdf
2010-2-B ARRL June.pdf
2010-3 SCU 3-10.pdf
2010-4 SCU 4-10.pdf
2011-1 SCU 1-11.pdf
2011-2-A SCU 2-11.pdf
2011-2-B Mémoire – Mona de Witte M2.pdf
2011-3 SCU 3-11.pdf
2011-4 SCU 4-11.pdf
2012-1 SCU 1-12.pdf
2012-2 SCU 2-12.pdf
2012-3 SCU 3-12.pdf
2012-4 SCU 4-12.pdf
2013-1 SCU 1-13.pdf
2013-2 SCU 2-13.pdf
2013-3 SCU 3-13.pdf
2014-1 SCU 1-14.pdf
2015-1 SCU 1-15.pdf
2015-2 SCU 2-15.pdf
2015-3 SCU 3-15.pdf
2015-4 SCU 4-15.pdf
2015-8-18 Tuesday.pdf
2016-1 SCU 1-16.pdf
2016-2-A SCU 2-16.pdf
2016-2-B The Patton PDF.pdf
2016-2-C The 007.jpg
2016-3-A SCU 3-16.pdf
2016-3-B SCU Blackford.pdf
2016-4 SCU 4-16.pdf
2016-5 SCU 5-16.pdf
2016-6 SCU 6-16.pdf
2017-1 SCU 1-17.pdf
2017-2 SCU 2-17.pdf
2018-1 SCU 1-18.pdf
2018-2 SCU 2-18.pdf
2018-3 SCU 3-18.pdf
2019-1 SCU 1-19.pdf
2019-2 SCU 2-19.pdf
2019-3 SNW 3-19.pdf
2019-4 SCU 4-19.pdf
2019-5 SCU 5-19.pdf
2020-1 SCU 1-20 .pdf
2020-1-A SCU 2-13 Packards .pdf
2020-1-B SCU 1-20 final.pdf
2020-2 SCU 2-20 Final 6-7-20.pdf
2020-3 SCU snw 3-20 Final .pdf
2021-1 SCU 1-21.pdf
2021-2 SCU 2-21.pdf
2021-3 SCU 3-21.pdf
Issue 2021-3 was the last one Geoffrey made for us.
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