Bawdsey Radar Presents Under the Radar

While the operational side of Bawdsey drew to a close in 1991, interest in the site was far from over and thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers the old, damp block became the award winning museum that you see today. In this final episode we look into the story of the volunteers and the rebirth of Bawdsey as a museum.

Following the Second World War there was hope that the fighting was over, but within two years the world held its breath as two superpowers battled it out in a 40 year cold war. This episode is a roundup of events and how the Cold War affected the use of Bawdsey’s radar in this time and includes the voices of those who worked here.

Following the end of the Second World War there was still a need for Britain to maintain high levels of military manpower in some parts of the world. The British government concluded that to meet these needs effectively they would need to use National Service during peacetime and in 1947 Parliament passed the National Service Act which would come into force two years later in 1949. In this episode we take a look into the stories of some of the men stationed at Bawdsey for their National Service.

In the first series Dr Phil Judkins explored the role of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in radar during the Second World War. In this episode we take a look into the upcoming Women on the Front Line exhibition at Bawdsey Radar and a closer look into the women of the WAAF.

In podcast 8 of this series, we look at a completely different theme. Here Phil describes how you can investigate the roles that your parents, or relatives undertook in the services in World War 2. For a small fee you can apply for the information on a named relative by accessing Government websites and this podcast explains more. There is an info sheet available and if you'd like a copy please get in touch with us via the website www.bawdseyradar.org.uk and we'll email it over by return. 

In this podcast, the 7th in the series, Phil describes the essential contribution to Britain's radar defences by the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, the WAAFs, where, In just 18 months before the Battle of Britain began, hundreds of WAAFs were trained, often at the Radar School at Bawdsey, to operate and manage the systems of Chain Home and the later radars.

In the sixth podcast of the series we look at the contributions of three inspiring university scientists, who arrived later in the story, but nevertheless led important areas of radar research and development - John Cockcroft, 'Ben' Lewis and Bernard Lovell.

In the 5th podcast in this series, Phil describes the less well-known contribution to radar development by the War Office scientists who worked on Army radar projects at Bawdsey from 1936 onwards.

The fourth podcast in our series mentions some of the people who played an essential part in radar development at Bawdsey, in particular some of the members of Taffy Bowen's airborne radar team.

The third podcast in the series is concerned with some of the movers and shakers in the radar story, from engineers and scientists, Air Marshalls and politicians, including a certain Prime Minister, and his adviser.

We will learn about the egos, rivalries and power struggles in the story of radar developments at Bawdsey.

This second podcast describes how a small development team at Bawdsey produced the world's first airborne radar. Fitted into night fighters, it helped to counter the Blitz in 1940/41. 

The ability of airborne radar to detect ships and U-boats also allowed it to play a pivotal role in winning the Battle of the Atlantic.

The first podcast in the series looks at the world's first wide-area radar system in war time operation called Chain Home.

Chain Home radar was developed principally at Bawdsey after initial work at Orfordness and made an essential contribution to winning the Battle of Britain in 1940.