RAF 'Y' Stations etc.

[Stan Ames]

Ted
Thanks for that I had not noticed your #34, you got there before me. My Co ord is half way between the end of Worthington Rd and the huts. I'm having difficulty with the two references you gave because they are much further south (51.53 rather than 51.8 The 1945 images show lots of tracks between the end of Worthington Rd and the field containing the huts so that's where much of the traffic entered at that time as JENNA explained. My location information came from David White of Bletchely Park who worked at the Dunstable station briefly in 1958 and he got to it down Brewers Hill Rd from the A5. Does anyone know if Beds Archives have a collection of the 1945 RAF survey images? They should have, each county was offered a collection covering their their area. The originals are much better resolution than shown in G.E. We may learn more from them.

This Met Office paper is interesting, it has a detailed description and photos of the buildings and aerials. http://www.rmets.org/pdf/hist02.pdf

Stan

[ted angus]

Hi Stan, The attached might help red pin is the piece you posted at message 65 via DROPBOX. . The yellow pin is approx the end of Worthington Rd, the green pin may be a hutted camp ?? The old money Lat Long is on the bottom of the picture so it should help ypou to locate using decimal.

I don't know hardly anything about records in Beds; Left school at 15 to join the RAF in 1964 and hardly went back, my parents moved back north, so the longest stays subsequently in BEDS were courses at Henlow/Cardington in 1983 and 1994/5

TED

[Jenna]

the MO/IDA Dunstable site was in operation/use up to the early 1960's and in its later day the access was off Drovers Way (just opposite Westfield Road), when they built the current housing estate in the mid 60's the entrance was kept and is still used as a footpath.



One aspect that always puzzled me was that during the run up to D-Day Dunstable was used to store tanks manufactured in the Vauxhall (Commer/Bedford trucks) plant in Luton, documents show that West Street and Green Lane that surround the site were used!... surely this was a little 'risky'?

The Owen family owned and run the whiting works to the south of the site during the war and I am led to believe they boarded some of the staff, more information this is probably available through the Dunstable Historical Society.

The buildings on Meadway could have been one of many uses as the immediate area had many 'uses' such as the rifle range on the downs, the POW camp at the gliding club etc etc The houses (piper court) that are there now were built in the late 60's and the only photo I have of the area (the site of The Cali Club) is below.

[ted angus]

One aspect that always puzzled me was that during the run up to D-Day Dunstable was used to store tanks manufactured in the Vauxhall (Commer/Bedford trucks) plant in Luton, documents show that West Street and Green Lane that surround the site were used!... surely this was a little 'risky'


Jenna, re the tanks. Vauxhall/Bedford was of course one company an arm of GM motors which of course was American. ( Bedford being the commercial side). At the beginning of WW2 they only had one plant and that is the one near the airport. Commer /Karrier was one firm using 2 badges and was part of the Rootes Group; it was situated in Biscot Rd. Not long after my Dad was called up in 44 the plant was hit by a V2.
In 1938 Vauxhall aquired some land at Dunstable for development in the future for truck manufacturing as no further large scale expansion was possible for them in Luton. There is a thought that the government assisted/ encouraged this aquisition as a potential shadow factory site.
Once Vauxhall/ Bedford became the lead company for the Churchill , the dormant land at Dunstable became the site of tank manufacture, the site was also later concurrently used as a refurb workshop for lorries. There were 10 other factories under Vauxhall leadership devoted to Churchill manufacture, Hayward Tyler in Luton being a major player for large assemblies.
The aquired land on which the tank plant was built was near the AC Delco spark plug factory. After WW2 Vauxhall aquired further adjacent land and this became the site of the new truck plant in Boscombe Rd. At the same time Commer aquired land accross Boscombe Rd and built their new truck factory.
The two companies were never linked, in fact arch rivals for the same markets. Storing products in the street was normal, I have seen many photos of lines of vehicles in the streets around Luton.
regards TED

[mbriscoe]

I wonder if the Thurso site was what became the US Navy facility there?

No the US Navy site was further West at Forss

There are lots of wireless intercept and DF sites around Caithness.

[mbriscoe]

The Oban RN station was at Kilmore but nothing left of it. The footprint shows on the post-war aerial image but the site seems to have already been cleared.

I found what was probably RN DF on Tiree, still building and stayblocks. Also one at Sheigra, different type of building but survives - not been there but got some images sent to me.

We think there was a RN DF site at the Butt of Lewis. It gets confusing because there is a reference to one called Gallon Head and that name not used for anywhere around there but there is a similar named place at Aird Uig but nothing seems to have been there in WWII. There was a Lloyd's then Marconi signal station at the Butt of Lewis but the DF seems to have been a short distance away.

There are a couple of DF sites just North of Sumburgh, they appear to have both been RAF but one could have been RN.

[mbriscoe]

Has anyone got any plans of "standard" RAF WT sites. I am going over some sites on the new set of post-war images released by RCAHMS.

There is a radio station at Noss Head near Wick which seemed to fit with there being a DF station there but on the new images I can see a DF site just West of there so wondering if the larger one was WT, DF or intercept. It also seems to have continued post-war because the buildings on site now are not in the same place as the ones in 1946.

[mbriscoe]

I wonder if there is anyone around Ayrshire?

I am fairly sure I have found the Kilwinning RN DF site, there is no trace of the site now except a roadside building (seen on Google Streetview). Just wondering if someone could get a closer look and perhaps ask at local farms.

BTW, at one DF site I found some calibration point markers and these have also been seen elsewhere. Something to watch out for as I did not realise what they were were when I saw them.

Also, when I was looking for the Oban RN DF station I got a clue from it being in the telephone directory though just as a RN WT station or something similar but it did confirm the village. One of the sets of telephone directories late in WWII has most RAF radar stations listed, there can be some quite useful clues to various military sites.

[Stan Ames]

Martin
Thanks for the marker photo never seen one set on a plinth before.
There were a pile of calibration markers alongside one of the Goonhavern DF stations a few years ago but they may have been moved by now as the site was being developed as a caravan park.Attachment 9415. These markers were set in the ground on concrete bases. The calibration oscillator would have been placed on each of the 36 markers set in a circle around the station and readings taken to produce a calibration chart. A photo taken of the calibration in progress at an RSS HF DF station in WW2 shown is below. Attachment 9416

Stan

[mbriscoe]

I think it was you who told me what it was! Just thought I would mention here as others could have seen them and not realised the significance, perhaps thought the military mind liked to give bird tables serial numbers.