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View Full Version : Archived: RAF Chenies ROTOR radar station, Chesham April 09



wolfism
07-05-2009, 09:53 PM
An R8 ROTOR station in rural Buckinghamshire. Cheers to Flat 4 for his help. :thumb

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RAF Chenies is a former early warning radar station, which was built as part of the first stage of the ROTOR Programme; but whilst most ROTORs were built on existing military sites, Chenies was constructed on a green field. The location is deceptively rural for somewhere so close to that circle of hell also known as the M25, and is approached down a series of leafy lanes with axle-breaking potholes. I did discover that Chenies House was used by the forces during the war, so that probably explains why the area was favoured. Chenies is the sole remaining R8 ROTOR, and the only one which was ever operational, so it has some historical significance. The spring growth of vegetation has softened the buildings, and though I associate Cold War relics with bleak hillsides and leafless trees (or 200mph winds if you count Saxa Vord), Chenies is far removed from that – rather than the usual coastal locations, this station is 50 miles inland.

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Another reason I was interested in Chenies is that there are no underground structures or bunkers: all the functions were housed in surface buildings. Again that adds to its uniqueness. The buildings were constructed using the “Seco” system, prefabricated asbestos-cement panels with strawboard insulation bonded onto them. At the time, asbestos was still viewed as being a wonder material, although now it’s been blacklisted and the demolition of the R8 buildings will be complicated by the hassle involved in bringing in a specialist demo team. Perhaps that’s saved it so far. Most of the buildings are single storey, but the main block is on two levels, with a double-height operations room. The building is planned around two spine corridors: one on the ground floor, with a set of stairs leading to a second spine in the raised section of the building. This gave onto the intercept cabins, plus a chief controller's cabin and fighter marshal's cabin. On the opposite side of this corridor is the radar office, where the radar equipment cabinets were located. The equipment racks are still marked out on the floor, and metal ventilation ducting is still suspended from the ceiling: the third-generation early warning radars at Chenies would have generated prodigious amounts of heat. On the far side of the radar room are double doors leading out onto a concrete ramp and stairs, which would have been used to wheel in new pieces of kit (despite the fact it slopes at about 1 in 5 and would have led to some comedy Bernard Cribbins-shifting-a-piano moments).

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ROTOR sites were early warning radars which formed a chain of continuous coverage around most of Britain and out into the North Sea: intended to provide sufficient warning for air defence interceptors to be scrambled. During the era when Chenies was active, the Lightning was coming into service, and its formidable rate of climb meant that three minutes after “bandits” were detected, a pair of missile-equipped Lightnings could be at altitude, ready to shoot down a Russian intruder, like a Tupolev “Bear”. The Ground Control Intercept functions at Chenies were originally located at Heathrow, but by the early 1950’s the decision was made to shift them north-westwards, to a new site (originally called Down Barns). In 1954, “163 Signals Unit, Chenies” replaced the Fighter Command Control Unit at Heathrow, but because the station wasn’t complete, a temporary operations hut was required for the AN/FPS3 radar. A couple of years later, the site was largely complete and the radar at Chenies was calibrated (using a Vickers Varsity carrying several boffins and a rack of electronic gubbins ;) ) – the sets included two Type 13’s, two Type 14’s, an AN/TPS10 and the AN/FPS3. The radar plinths still survive, dotted around in a big compound which resembles a giant paddock, but all the electrical kit has been stripped out of them. Parts of the masts, including their tension stays, are lying in the long grass nearby.

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Chenies’ working life as a ROTOR was cut short, as it was shut prior to the 1958 Plan, the successor to the ROTOR programme. In 1959 Chenies was awaiting disposal, but along with RAF Bovingdon (which acted as Chenies’ domestic site) it was selected as a potential location for underground silos to house the Blue Streak missile. In the swingeing cuts which followed the Sandys Report, Blue Streak itself was then cancelled. However, Chenies remained in RAF hands, becoming a Strike Command communications facility, but the R8 building has lain redundant for many years. It was last used in the mid 1990's as a sports facility for the RAF, with the two level operations room adapted as a games hall. The remainder of the site was used for other purposes: in the mid 1980's Chenies became part of the “Gandalf Project” when a new C-band radar was installed for the Met Office to monitor the intensity of rainfall. In the summer of 2004, the station was listed for disposal for a second time: the Strike Command radio station had closed, and the mast had been sold to NTL. One of the conditions of sale was that the R8 buildings should be demolished by the new owner, which is tragic because they make up the only R8 left, with almost all the other sites having been completely demolished. A small section survives at Wick …

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Little equipment remains in the main building, and the impressive “tote” board from the operations room was liberated by a museum, but Chenies still has plenty atmosphere thanks to pieces of signage, plant and services (the emergency generator is still here), and the fact that it’s partly overgrown. In the grounds, concrete troughing criss-crosses the compound en route to the radar plinths, and there’s even a couple of picnic tables for the station’s staff to use. The local neds (presumably neds have reached Buckinghamshire?) have smashed holes in the asbestos panels – good thinking, chaps – but on the bonus side, Chenies has survived thanks to the active Met Office and NTL radars which still operate here, in their own secure compounds. Of course, if this was in Scotland, a crafty farmer would have used the buildings for rearing pigs in by now …

Shot on Agfachrome RSX, which you can’t get anymore. :-(