St Alban's Head Radar Station - St Aldhelm's Head, Dorset, UK
Posted by: 
Dragontree
N 50° 34.726 W 002° 03.299
30U E 566909 N 5603410
The remains of St Alban's (St Aldhelm's) Head Radar Station can be seen on this rocky outcrop of land. There is a memorial, ruins of buildings and some steps leading down to the base.
Waymark Code: WM9Z1E
Location: South West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/19/2010
Views: 10
Today Purbeck Radar holds the full story about this special station; their website is the one below.
Radar researchers and scientists were evacuated to this site after Germans sent an airship to spy on the work being carried out at Bawdsey on the Suffolk coast in 1939. It was here that they developed the rotating aerial, Plan Position Indicator and the cavity magnetron technology; all important and vital advances.
It was here from May 1940 to May 1942 that radar development was the most important aspect in the United Kingdom. The flat clifftop made the perfect test site. During the war Churchill ordered every one of the 2000 workers at the station to move to Malvern in May 1942 due to the German threat.
After the war the RAF operated radars here for a long time with the towers eventually being removed in the 1970s. Today the Purbeck Radar Museum Trust have erected a memorial on the site and also have an exhibition in the Swanage Museum & Heritage Centre.
The memorial itself has two inscriptions reading:
'THIS MEMORIAL COMMEMORATES
THE RADAR RESEARCH
CARRIED OUT AT
WORTH MATRAVERS
FROM 1940 - 1942
WHICH WAS CRUCIAL TO
THE WINNING OF THE WAR
AND THE BIRTH OF MODERN
TELECOMMUNICATIONS'
'This memorial was sponsored by
Worth Parish Council
assisted by public donations and the
Purbeck Radar Museum Trust.
It was designed by Tony Viney
resident of Worth and erected by
volunteers from the village.
Sir Bernard Lovell unveiled it on
27th October 2001
in the presence of Dr. Bill Penley and the veteran
scientists who worked here during the war.'
More interesting details and pictures can be seen on the website below.
Related Web Sites: [Web Link]
Squadron number: Not listed
Served at this site :: Not listed
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