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RAF Stenigot | |
---|---|
Stenigot, Lincolnshire. in England | |
Coordinates | 53°19′37″N0°06′58″W / 53.327°N 0.116°W |
Site information | |
Owner | Ministry of Defence |
Operator | Royal Air Force |
Site history | |
Built | 1938 |
In use | 1939-1996 |
Battles/wars | Second World War Cold War |
RAF Stenigot is a former Second World War radar station situated at Stenigot, near Donington on Bain, Lincolnshire.
It was built in 1938 by Blaw-Knox [1] as part of the Chain Home early-warning radar network. [2] Initially, the site's main feature was an octet of aerial towers. These were supported by some low-lying buildings.
The station was upgraded in 1959 to GEE H [3] communications relay site as part of the ACE High programme, which involved adding four tropospheric scatter dishes. [4] The site was decommissioned in the late 1980s and was mostly demolished by 1996.
The radar tower is a Grade II listed structure because it is the best preserved and most complete Chain Home transmitter tower surviving in its original location in the British Isles. The site is still in use by the RAF Aerial Erector School for selection tests for possible recruits. [5]
Stenigot Tower is also used by various two way radio providers as a common base repeater site due to its vast coverage of Lincolnshire.
Three of four dishes on site were scrapped in the winter of 2018. A local construction firm admitted to scrapping three of the four dishes; the legality of this is disputed. [5] The first dish was removed from its supports sometime before 14 October, [6] with two more dishes being felled over the following days. The fourth and last remaining dish was removed in mid to end–November 2020.
Horncastle is a market town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, England. It is 17 miles (27 km) east of Lincoln. Its population was 6,815 at the 2011 census and estimated at 7,123 in 2019. A section of the ancient Roman walls remains.
Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal early warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the official name Air Ministry Experimental Station Type 1 in 1940, the radar units were also known as Chain Home for most of their life. Chain Home was the first early warning radar network in the world and the first military radar system to reach operational status. Its effect on the war made it one of the most powerful systems of what became known as the "Wizard War".
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RemoteRadarHeadStaxton Wold or RRH Staxton Wold is an air defence radar station operated by the Royal Air Force, located near Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. As it has been a radar site continuously since 1939, it has a claim to be the oldest working radar station in the world. the base has undergone many upgrades of different radar systems and sits on the top of Staxton Wold at a height of 590 feet (180 m) above sea level.
Donington on Bain is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.
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Chain Home Low (CHL) was the name of a British early warning radar system operated by the RAF during World War II. The name refers to CHL's ability to detect aircraft flying at altitudes below the capabilities of the original Chain Home (CH) radars, where most CHL radars were co-located. CHL could reliably detect aircraft flying as low as 500 feet (150 m). The official name was AMES Type 2, referring to the Air Ministry Experimental Station at Bawdsey Manor where it was developed, but this name was almost never used in practice.
Royal Air Force Bempton or more simply RAF Bempton is a former Royal Air Force station situated at Bempton in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, 6 miles (10 km) north of Bridlington. During the Second World War it was established as a radar station, becoming part of the Chain Home Low (CHL) network.
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Royal Air Force Coleby Grange or more simply RAF Coleby Grange was a Royal Air Force satellite station situated alongside the western edge of the A15 on open heathland between the villages of Coleby and Nocton Heath and lying 7.4 mi (11.9 km) due south of the county town Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England.
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Stenigot is a village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is in the Lincolnshire Wolds, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, about 6 miles (9.7 km) south-west from the town of Louth, and 1 mile (1.6 km) south-east from the village of Donington on Bain. It includes the hamlet of Cold Harbour. The population is included in the civil parish of Asterby.
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