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Syko cipher device


Cheshire Steve

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Clearing out my father's home, I came across a canvas bag marked SYKO CIPHER DEVICE, unfortunately no device inside. He was an LAC in the RAF so this was quite a surprise, and I have found very little about who would have been issued with these. Only part of his service I think could relate to this is he was in 58 RSU recovering crashed aircraft in the Western Desert (that was mid 42 to mid 43), though does this mean my father was also the 'radio operator' in the RSU column ? Unfortunately he has serious dementia so I can't ask him, and seaching the web has revealed very little about how many were issued and to whom, and I haven't found any pictures of a canvas bag like this, though I read that Bletchley has a device and its leather case/box.

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=124496&stc=1

SYKO.jpg

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It was a simple mechanical implementation of a substitution cipher table see: http://chris-intel-corner.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/the-british-syko-cipher-device.html, http://jproc.ca/crypto/syko_sd2.html and http://jproc.ca/crypto/syko_manual.pdf - it was used by the RAF - on the same level of (in) security as Army SLIDEX I think

 

Hope this helps

 

Iain

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It was a simple mechanical implementation of a substitution cipher table see: http://chris-intel-corner.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/the-british-syko-cipher-device.html, http://jproc.ca/crypto/syko_sd2.html and http://jproc.ca/crypto/syko_manual.pdf - it was used by the RAF - on the same level of (in) security as Army SLIDEX I think

 

Hope this helps

 

Iain

 

Hi Iain,

 

Google had already turned that up, and it says "Unfortunately it is difficult to find detailed information on these systems and how they were used during the war." which is why I asked here. I can't even find rough information, let alone detailed, of who they were issued to, what they were used for, etc. For example did all aircraft have them ? Would an RSU have several or just one nominated operator ?

 

It seems there is less info on these than on the German's Enigma.

 

Steve

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Hi Iain,

 

Google had already turned that up, and it says "Unfortunately it is difficult to find detailed information on these systems and how they were used during the war." which is why I asked here. I can't even find rough information, let alone detailed, of who they were issued to, what they were used for, etc. For example did all aircraft have them ? Would an RSU have several or just one nominated operator ?

 

It seems there is less info on these than on the German's Enigma.

 

Steve

 

Have you contacted Bletchley Park or The RAF Museum:-

 

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/

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Good idea. I had thought about contacting Bletchley, but not considered the RAF museum. Haven't visited either as a bit of a long hike from the North West (though have been to Cosford), but Bletchley is on my to-do list sometime this year since discovering my mother worked at the Harrogate listening post. The Bletchley website made me wonder if they have curators or whether all you have is a glorified ticket office, but Hendon has a list of different contacts including curatorial. I will try them first.

 

Steve

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  • 3 weeks later...

18 days and no response to my e-mail enquiry at RAF Museum, Hendon - very disappointing. So I'll try Bletchley and see what they say.

 

I did find a little bit more about the RSU radio truck. Although my father can't remember anything post 1950s due to his dementia, he did volunteer some information when I was chatting to him the other day. He was telling me about lone German fighters attacking just about anything on the desert road back during the war in North Africa c1942, and that standing orders was to get behind a sand dune - which he says was pretty stupid as the plane would turn for another run and you would be the wrong side of the dune. But he did say the radio truck in the RSU convoy was a 15cwt, and they had mounted two machine guns in the back. I tried to press him on using code on the radio but he clammed up - he doesn't realise 70 years have passed.

 

Steve

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18 days and no response to my e-mail enquiry at RAF Museum, Hendon - very disappointing. So I'll try Bletchley and see what they say.

 

Steve

 

Always disappointing when a museum doesn't reply.

 

The Royal Signals Museum also covers encryption, interception and spy radio, so maybe worth contacting along with Bletchley.

 

http://www.royalsignalsmuseum.co.uk/ww1-ww2-communications/

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  • 3 years later...

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