|
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ |
| Following the air attacks on the UK during the First World War, the Air Ministry began conducting research into a means of destroying hostile aircraft using radio waves. |  Bawdsey Radar Station
|
Web: www.bawdseyradargroup.co.uk [http://www.bawdseyradargroup.co.uk]
The Scots physicist Robert Watson-Watt, supervisor of a national radio research laboratory, instead outlined a method for detecting aircraft en route to the UK so they could be intercepted. A practical demonstration was successfully conducted in February 1935 and as a result, Bawdsley and a string of radio stations along the coast were set up and in operation by 1936.
Much groundbreaking work in radar technology took place at Bawdsley and the string of radar stations went on to become invaluable during the Battle of Britain. The strategic importance of Bawdsley led to the complex being bombed on 12 separate occasions, but the robust construction of the buildings using huge earth revetments, reinforced concrete walls and a roof designed to dissipate the force of a direct hit ensured the building's survival.
Bawdsley continued as an RAF station into the 1980s and today, although the transmitter masts have now gone, the Grade II listed transmitter blocks, receiver blocks and underground bunkers still remain. The radar station attracted 2,000 visitors during summer 2005.
Set at the mouth of the River Deben, Bawdsey Manor was built as the private estate of Sir Cuthbert Quilter in 1886. It was enlarged in 1895, and then during World War I was requisitioned by the Devonshire Regiment.
The estate, comprising the manor house, estate buildings and 168 acres, was returned to the Quilter family after the war but then bought in its entirety by the Air Ministry in 1936. The RAF's experimental Radio Direction Finding (RDF) training school was established with the first Chain Home radar station there becoming operational from May 1937. Bawdsey remained in RAF service until 1991.
This article can be found on the Internet at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/restoration/2004/mid_bawdsey_station_01.shtml
© British Broadcasting Corporation
For more information on copyright please refer to:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/about/copyright.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/terms/
BBC History
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/