RAF Swingate

Above Aerial Photo from 1946

Info from the English Heritage Pastscape website: "The surviving remnants of the Chain Home radar station at Swingate, one mile to the nort-west of Dover Castle. The station was operational from the late 1930s and in use throughout the Second World War, including the Battle of Britain, during which it was briefly put out of action by a "near miss" from enemy bombers. When established, the site would have been characterised by four transmitting aerials on 350ft steel towers, four receiving aerials on 240ft timber towers, and the control buildings. The transmitter site was centred at TR 3345 4293 and the receiver site to the north-east at TR 3386 4329. In the early 1950s the station was technically restored under the Rotor programme. The station closed in 1955 and the smaller recieving masts were removed and the three larger masts retained. Today the transmitters provide BBC FM radio services to those parts of south-east Kent not served by the Wrotham station. One of the towers was the British end of the first live cross-channel TV transmission on 27 August 1950."

What it looks like now ...

Get social with us.

Print | Sitemap
© Skill Horizons