RAF_Bempton

RAF Bempton

RAF Bempton

Royal Air Force base in Yorkshire, England

Royal Air Force Bempton or more simply RAF Bempton is a former Royal Air Force station situated at Bempton in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, 6 miles (10 km) north of Bridlington. During the Second World War it was established as a radar station, becoming part of the Chain Home Low (CHL) network.

Quick Facts RAF Bempton, Coordinates ...

Operational history

  • 1940 The first CHL radar station was installed in early 1940 a few hundred feet from the lighthouse at Flamborough Head. This was at an elevation of 130 feet (40 m); at this height performance proved to be very unsatisfactory. A new higher site was found four miles up the coast on the 350 feet (110 m) cliffs at Bempton.[1]
  • The new site was opened in July 1940 as RAF Bempton. It was a CHL station.[2]
  • 1941 became a CHL/Chain Home Extra Low (CHEL) radar station.[3]
  • It disbanded on 1 August 1945.
  • 1945 – Air Ministry Experimental Station Type 31
  • 1 June 1949, re-established as a CHL/CHEL radar station.
  • 17 February 1950 – transferred to RAF Fighter Command.
  • On 1 November 1951 it was renamed as 146 Signals Unit Bempton rebuilt as a Centimetric Early Warning (CEW) radar station, part of the ROTOR Programme.
  • The 146 Signals Unit was disbanded on 1 December 1961
  • Bempton became a satellite station of RAF Patrington until its final closure in April 1972.

The site was also used for a secret High Speed Passive Array RADAR codenamed 'Winkle'.[4][5] The distinctive Y-shaped concrete stanchions on the cliff edge are indicative of Winkle.[6]

Current use

The site was sold in 1980/81. The stairs down to the bunker were removed and other entrances were sealed over with concrete.[1]

In 2010, a teenager from Hull went missing after his car was found abandoned by Bempton Cliffs. Police conducted a search for a missing person around the cliff area and inside the former bunker as the teenager had been given a memory stick detailing the pornographic artwork that a cult had painted on the walls of the bunker.[7]

Despite the Humberside Fire and Rescue Service later searching the area again for a body, no trace of Russell Bohling has been found.[8]

References

  1. [1]
    "Airfields". Hull & East Riding at war. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  2. [2]
    "British Air Defence System". Bomber History. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  3. [3]
    Historic England. "RAF Bempton (1415819)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  4. [4]
    "RAF Bempton, 'RMF' CEW R1 Rotor Radar Station, Yorkshire". Timechamber. 30 August 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  5. [5]
    Simons, R. W.; Sutherland, J. W. (1988). "Forty Years of Marconi Radar from 1946 to 1986" (PDF). Radar Pages. GEC review. p. 15. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  6. [6]
    Brigham, T.; Jobling, D. (January 2011). "RAPID COASTAL ZONE ASSESSMENT YORKSHIRE AND LINCOLNSHIRE Bempton to Donna Nook English Heritage Project 3729 PHASE 2". Historic England. p. 34. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  7. [7]
    "Student may have been lured to 'occult' bunker, father fears". Yorkshire Post. 1 March 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  8. [8]
    Campbell, James (6 March 2015). "Family of missing Russell Bohling 'still clinging to hope' five years on". Hull Daily Mail. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
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