Cresswell radar station (also known as RAF Cresswell), was a

Chain Home Low 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) r ...

(later a Chain Home Extra Low)

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

radar site at Cresswell, in

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, England. The radar site was south of the village of Cresswell on the road towards

Lynemouth Lynemouth is a village in Northumberland, England, northeast of Ashington, close to the village of Ellington, Northumberland, Ellington to the north west. It was built close to coal mines, including Lynemouth Colliery. Lynemouth and the surr ...

and each site occupied a different side of the road. The site was opened by early 1940 and was staffed by

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

personnel from No. 60 Group, who were accommodated at Lynemouth instead of being billeted at the radar site. Cresswell radar site was known to be poorly located as it did not have enough of a significant elevation above sea level to provide sufficient warning of approaching aircraft. Since closure , both sites have been demolished and nothing remains of either site.

History

At the time of the

Munich crisis The Munich Agreement was reached in Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, the French Republic, and the Kingdom of Italy. The agreement provided for the German annexation of part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudete ...

in October 1938, Britain had eleven radar sites, which were mostly located on the eastern coast. The concern over the rise of Nazi Germany prompted a wider development of the radar system. The site at Cresswell was surveyed in late 1939 and approved in January 1940. Initially equipped with a GL Mk II radar, the deployment of the mobile radar to Cresswell took several weeks, but it was operational by the end of February 1940. Signals picked up at Cresswell were fed into No. 13 Group (RAF) of

Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It operated throughout the Second World War, winning fame during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The ...

between 1940 and 1944. However, the station was staffed and maintained from personnel drawn from No. 73 Signals Wing, part of No. 60 Signals Group, which had its headquarters at

Leighton Buzzard Leighton Buzzard ( ) is a market town in Bedfordshire, England, in the southwest of the county and close to the Buckinghamshire border. It lies between Aylesbury, Tring, Luton/ Dunstable and Milton Keynes, near the Chiltern Hills. It is nor ...

The first site at Cresswell (''station 40A''), a Chain Home Low (CHL) station, was built east of the road between Lynemouth and Cresswell. This first station was deemed to be poorly sited, but then the successor station, a Chain Home Extra Low (CHEL) site (designated ''station K158''), was located further inland on the other side of the road. At only above sea level, the station had a search range out to sea of only ; the CH/CHL/CHEL stations were expected to have a range of at least for accurate and timely aircraft interception to be launched from a Fighter Command airfield. Additionally, fears about radar operations in high winds prompted the installation of a CHEL tower at Cresswell, which was approved in March 1942, with the tower becoming operational in November-December 1942. The original CHL site was kept as a GCI unit and was operational until at least 1945. Staff for the CHEL site at Cresswell were billeted in nearby Lynemouth, as opposed to the normal function of being housed in

Nissen huts A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure originally for military use, especially as barracks, made from a 210° portion of a cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. It was designed during the First World War by the Canadian-American-British e ...

on-site. Like other radar stations operated by the RAF during the

, details of its exact closure are unknown. The 60 Group "Radar Bulletin" magazine from March 1945 lists the station as still being operational at the date of publication.

References

Sources

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External links

UK map of CHL stations
{{Royal Air Force radar stations Buildings and structures in Northumberland Royal Air Force stations in Northumberland Radar stations