Royal Air Force Danby Beacon or more simply RAF Danby Beacon was an

early warning An early warning system is a warning system that can be implemented as a Poset, chain of information communication systems and comprises sensors, Detection theory, event detection and decision support system, decision subsystems for early identi ...

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

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 ...

station that formed part of the

Chain Home 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 off ...

network of radar (or

Radio Direction Finding Direction finding (DF), radio direction finding (RDF), or radiogoniometry is the use of radio waves to determine the direction to a radio source. The source may be a cooperating radio transmitter or may be an inadvertent source, a natural ...

(RDF)) stations built by the

immediately prior to the

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 ...

Construction

The receiving masts were high timber structures and the transmitting masts were steel masts. The construction of these masts was the work of the RAF controlled, but civilian staffed, No. 2 Installation Unit of No. 1 Maintenance Unit RAF (1 MU).

Second World War

During the first part of the war the station was under the control of 13 Group of

RAF 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 ...

. On 3 February 1940 it was a

plot Plot or Plotting may refer to: Art, media and entertainment * Plot (narrative), the connected story elements of a piece of fiction Music * ''The Plot'' (album), a 1976 album by jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava * The Plot (band), a band formed in 2003 ...

from Danby that led

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

aircraft from Blue section, 43 Squadron stationed at

RAF Acklington Royal Air Force Acklington, simply known as RAF Acklington, is a former Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located southwest of Amble, Northumberland and north of Newcastle upon Tyne. The a ...

to shoot down a

Heinkel He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and medium bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Due to restrictions placed on Germany a ...

bomber over

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Yorkshire Coast at the mouth of the River Esk, North Yorkshire, River Esk and has a maritime, mineral and tourist economy. From the Middle Ages, Whitby ...

. This was the first German aircraft shot down over England during the war, the British aircraft being under the command of (then) Flight Lieutenant Peter Townsend. The intercept is described in detail in Townsend's highly-successful book about the Battle of Britain, "Duel of Eagles."Peter Townsend, Duel of Eagles, (New York, Simon and Schuster, 1970), pp 7-8. Soon after control of the station passed to the newly formed 60 Group but its information was passed to 13 Group headquarters in Kenton,

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

Cold War

In 1946 the station moved to the control of 90 Group and continued to function in the early warning role until 1954 when the station ceased operating. The masts and buildings were demolished in 1957. Danby Beacon - geograph

Memorial

None of the structures remain but the site of the station is now marked by a memorial stone.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danby Beacon Royal Air Force stations in Yorkshire Military history of North Yorkshire