RAF 'Y' Stations etc. Discussion Thread

I'm not sure if this link has been posted before.

Lyme Regis 'Y' Station:

www.monktonwyldcourt.co.uk/About_the_Cou...utHistory%20copy.pdf

Ive been researching the HFDF station a mile or so from ibsley ww2 airfield in the new forest. Very little is left now.
This one doesn't seem to appear in any lists so I'm not sure which organisation operated here- its very isolated.

According to the national mapping this station also had a long dipole aerial on posts(about 1km in length) aligned to intercept from Germany.
Anyone else come across this configuration? The shape is something like a Y from above but with another central arm .

Thanks to anyone responding.

fixit

Hi Fixit

Your station and its aerials sound interesting. HFDF stations had four 10m vertical aerials closely spaced around a small operator hut, but the other aerial you describe could be a rhombic aerial which was used widely in interception. The rhombic aerials were highly directional and took the form of a diamond shape and could be quite large depending on the frequency. The 1km long aerial may have been a "Beverage" antenna, this too was directional and could have been for interception. I have lists of Intelligence gathering stations from National Archives but I don't recognise the location. Are there any other local towns or village names it might have been recorded under? Alternatively, it may not be on any of the WW2 intelligence lists because many airfields had HF and MF DF stations purely for navigational purposes.

Regards

Stan

Was there a y station in kenley?

Stan wrote:

I have just looked up Fayreness and the address was :- Fayreness Hotel,Kingsgate, Nr Broadstairs. the lat long was 51deg 5 1/4 min North, 1deg 24 min East. not very accurate bit it will give a general area. The hotel was probably where the crew were billeted.

Stan

Fayreness Hotel earlier this year:

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The central portion (including the tower) is original, the wings being later additions.

As one might expect, there was a lot of activity in this area during WWII. Just outside the hotel on the greensward there was a whole cluster of features - including a circular gun pit, an rectangular earthwork, a square structure and an L-shaped trench. Perhaps these are associated with the listening station, although the central tower of the hotel wouldn't have made a bad place for a small aerial.

There was also a petroleum warfare site on the beach below, and Neptune's Tower (an 18th century folly built by Lord Holland) to the east was used as some kind of look-out. And the tunnels in the chalk cliffs may have been defended.

RAF Foreness was just a short distance to the NW.

A couple of WWII vintage photos relating to the Fayreness Y-station:

www.australiansatwar.gov.au/stories/stories_war=W2_id=62.html

What's that on top of the cliffs? Simply fencing, or aerials?