RAF Ringstead is a former

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 ...

radar station at

Ringstead Bay __NOTOC__ Ringstead Bay is an bay, open bay of the English Channel located east of Weymouth, Dorset, Weymouth in Dorset, England. The bay lies on the Jurassic Coast and in the Dorset National Landscape area, and is known for its natural environm ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, England. It is notable for having served three separate functions: first as a

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 ...

early-warning radar An early-warning radar is any radar system used primarily for the long-range detection of its targets, i.e., allowing defences to be alerted as ''early'' as possible before the intruder reaches its target, giving the air defences the maximum tim ...

station during WWII and then, during the Cold War, as a Rotor station and then, finally, as a USAF

Tropospheric scatter Tropospheric scatter, also known as troposcatter, is a method of communicating with microwave radio signals over considerable distances – often up to and further depending on frequency of operation, equipment type, terrain, and climate fact ...

station. The first of these functions commenced in 1942; the last of the functions ceased in 1974. The structural remains were

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

in 2020.

Chain Home

was a ring of early warning radar stations built around the coastline as part of WWII defences from the late 1930s onwards. RAF Ringstead Chain Home Radar Station (known as AMES12B and CH12B) was built in 1941, and was fully operational by March 1942. It was designed with well-dispersed structures: doubled-up transmitter and receiver blocks, a substation and a standby set house in earth-bound bunkers, four 325ft steel transmitter aerial masts and two 240ft self-supporting timber receiver aerial towers. Ringstead Chain Home was stood down in 1945.

Rotor station

In 1952, the former Chain Home station was refurbished into a Rotor station site (known as SRD). The Rotor programme was developed to update previous wartime radar technology and to install more capable radar systems to detect and locate fast-flying jets. The former Chain Home station became the technical site of the Rotor station; Upton Farm, 2 km to the north, became the domestic site, where personnel were accommodated. It closed in 1956.

Tropospheric scatter

In 1963, a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

station was established at Ringstead to provide a cross-channel relay link from High Wycombe Atomic Joint Co-Ordination Centre to a counterpart network in Gorramendi, near Elizondo, in the

Spanish Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

. Two parabolic aerials were erected as part of this refurbishment. The Tropospheric Scatter station was operated by USAF No 6 Detachment, 2180 Communications Squadron, and closed in 1974.

Legacy

The Tropospheric Scatter station parabolic aerials were dismantled in 1975. The Wessex Hang Gliding Club use the field where the aerials were formerly located for emergency landings. The bunker is on land owned by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

, and the Trust occasionally run open days. The radar station was listed Grade II in 2020, as one of the best-preserved Chain Home stations in southwest England, and as such a rare example of its type. One of the two transmitting blocks is proposed for conversion to holiday accommodation. Planning permission was granted in 2021 for a conversion designed by Lipton Plant Architects.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:RAF Ringstead 1942 establishments in England 1974 disestablishments in England Buildings and structures completed in 1942 Radar stations Grade II listed buildings in Dorset Ringstead Jurassic Coast

Chain Home

Rotor station

Tropospheric scatter

Legacy

See also

References