Parkes saves Apollo 13 mission: the unique tower ‘rescue’ which was sworn to secrecy

But the details have now come out and a man who was there at the time has told how it all evolved.

The incident was raised by Wayne Pryor, a Western Australian man who has been telling the tale around campfires for many, many years about how an 18 year old Parkes man climbed a tower at Canambro and removed a tag which enabled the Apollo 13 mission to continue.

He called in to Parkes to look at newspaper reports to verify its accuracy.

The Champion Post published his story in the Champion Post a week ago - and it has created considerable attention ever since.

And the actual story has plenty of intrigue, with those involved sworn to secrecy.

It appears the man who climbed the tower and saved the day was Cliff Bradley, who has since passed away.

He wasn’t 18, but 37 years old at the time.

His family still reside in the area and his son, Craig explained the situation.

“That young bloke who climbed the tower to remove the tag was my Dad,” he said.

“Back when the movie (Apollo 13) came out, Bob Wenban told the correct and full story of Parkes' involvement, including the 'metal tag' part of the story. 

“The movie neglected Australia's involvement altogether, let alone the actual details of Parkes and the 'little thing' that NASA swore them to keep quiet.

“He even has the photo of Dad on said tower.

“Bob, was the then Captain of Parkes Rescue Squad.  He knows the guy (worked for PMG, their tower, at the time), who snatched the tag out of his hand, saying "I'll have that".”

“My Dad died in 1991 but we'd heard the story growing up and well before Bob went public with it on national TV.

“Anyway, just letting you know that it wasn't just camp fire myth.”

- - - -

The Champion Post contacted Mr Wenban who now lives in Coffs Harbour and at the age of 85, he still clearly remembers what happened.

Mr Wenban was the founding captain of the Parkes Rescue Squad who were called out to assist operations at Canambro tower so communication could be restored with the crippled Odyssey spaceship.

On the April 14, 1970 the Parkes Rescue squad were called to assist in installing special equipment on top of the Telecom ( as it was known then) tower at Mount Canambro which we did with a few minor dramas. 

He said on 13 April 1970 after the dish and a larger box were lifted into position, the Americans connected them and could not get things to work. 

“They returned to the top of the tower three times to check the conection and still it would not work. They were getting upset and blaming each other.

“There was this one particular gentleman who I thought was like a bodyguard.  He grunted at everyone and kept his hand in his pocket, possibly with a pistol.

“Cliff Bradley (an auto electrician) asked me if could he go up the tower. 

“I asked why and he said, "I think I know the problem". 

“I asked him how long it would take and he said, "two minutes". 

“I told him to get ready and as soon as that ar...... and the other Americans go into the shack, I’ll give you the signal to go." 

Cliff went up and Bob saw him reach out and grab something.

“At the same time, the Americans started celebrating and congratulating each other. They came out of the hut cheering, you’d think they had been around the moon themselves.”

Cliff slid down the ladder and Bob asked what he had done.

“Cliff showed me this little price tag, about an inch and a quarter, which had scribbled on it in pencil: "RUSH TO PARKES." 

The back of it was painted with a gold metalic paint.

An employee of the PMG (which controlled the tower) came up to Bob and asked him, "what have you done".

“I replied nothing.

“The PMG official said, "the Americans had done nothing and it started to work so what did you do?" 

Bob said he showed him the tag and he promptly put it in his pocket. 

After the job was completed, we (the squad) were all called together by Superintendent George Bailey (Western Area NSW Police) and other officials and were told as this was of national and international significance, the whole incident was to remain strictly confidential, which we agreed to of course.   

Mr Wenban said it was quite a windy evening, with the tower swinging about two feet.

“The tag was fluttering in the wind and was breaking up the signal.

“I wasn’t supposed to, but I took a few discreet photos at the time on a cheap little camera I always had with him.”

“I never released these photos which showed some significent scenes for some considerable time until I saw that the Yanks had made a movie "Apollo 13".

“I then made them public to a local radio announcer. 

“About three days later I was contacted by Steve Liebman of either Channel 7 or 9 and he asked if I would be prepared to be interviewed and tell the story in my own words.

“I agreed to the interview and they sent up two trucks of equipment and a big team, the works, hair dressers, make-up artists, etc. 

“The interview was held at Annuka Resort, just out of Coffs Harbour and the actual interview was conducted by Ms Liz Hayes.

“The whole thing went very well and was shown within the next day or so. 

“I asked for and eventually received a copy of the tape the was broadcast, which I'm sure I still have.”

NOTE: since publication of the article in the Champion Post, the story has received interest from the ABC and Western Australia Today.