View allAll Photos Tagged coldwar
A Cold War Emergency Centre is situated at the back of the staff car park of the Broadland District Council Offices in Yarmouth Road, the structure is a purpose-built two-storey bunker which was completed in 1990 and is believed to have been the last such bunker to have been constructed in the country during the Cold War era. It comprises of two levels, with the upper floor semi-sunken and the lower floor underground and in the event of an emergency would have been used by the council executives involved in the running of government, the building is currently still used for storage by the council.
The Rotor programme was developed to advance the wartime radar technology in detecting and locating fast-flying jets. It was approved by the Air Council in June 1950. The first stage of the programme, Rotor 1, was to technically restore existing Chain Home, centrimetric early warning, Chain Home Extra Low and Ground Controlled Interception Stations and put them under the control of RAF Fighter Command. There were three main components to the Rotor Stations: the technical site, including the radars, operation blocks and other installations; the domestic site, where personnel were accommodated; and the stand-by set house, a reserve power supply. The technical site for RAF Neatishead Rotor Station was located at TG 346 184. Crew were accommodated at RAF Coltishall and the stand-by set house was located at TG 342 200.
The two main constructions at Rotor stations were the operations block and guardhouse. Operations blocks were the largest structures built at Rotor stations. They were constructed of reinforced concrete and designed to withstand 2,000lb bombs. The outer walls and roof of the Rotor operations blocks were 9ft 10in thick and the internal walls between 5.9in to 1ft 11in metres wide. The exterior was coated with an asphalt damp course and surrounded by a 5.9in brick wall. The roof was usually flush with the ground surface and up to 14 ft 2in of earth was mounded on top. The operations blocks, identified by a 'R' prefix, contained technical equipment, domestic facilities, workshops and a plant for air conditioning and gas filtration, all within a single complex.
Four of the blocks (R1-R4) were underground constructions designed for the more vulnerable sites on the east and south-east coasts. Others were semi-submerged (R6) or above ground (R5, R7-R11) heavily protected structures built to withstand 1,000lb bombs. The guardhouses were designed to resemble ''bungalows''. They were single-storey buildings capped with a flat, concrete roof, above which a pitched roof contained water tanks. They were generally constructed of brick, but were built to blend in with the local architectural style. The guard rooms also contained an armoury, store, rest room and lavatories. Those associated with underground operations blocks featured a projecting rear annex that housed a stairwell leading down to an access tunnel.
Aerial photography from 1965 shows the R3 operations bunker at the site, as well as a Type 13, a Type 7 and four Type 14 radar plinths. A range of ancillary buildings survive. The area is part of an active base and museum. In March 1947 the station was established as a Sector Operations Centre. Between 1961 to 1963 the station was reduced to care and maintenance and was then reopened as a Master Radar Station. A fire in 1966 destroyed the underground operations complex and the station was closed until 1974 with a new data-handling system occupying the original Happidrome. In 1994 the Air Defence Radar Museum opened at the site, which also continues to serve as an operational base.
Personal experience of working at Neatishead communicated by email states ''I was posted there as a sgt in 1973 and it was fully operational, T85, T84, HF200 and more all working. Furthermore, the other half of my Locking entry was posted there in 1971 and all worked on the operational radars, txs and rxs. I left in 1976 and visited again in 1977. T85, stuff of legends, 60Mw with all 12 Txs running''. Detailed history of the 50 years of the founding of RAF Neatishead 1941-1991. R30 operations room, R12 Radar equipment building and R3 underground operations block; Listed. For the designation records of this site please see The National Heritage List for England. Decommissioned 2006 and sold. Feb 2013, 25 acres of the site were again sold. The Air Defence Radar Museum was not part of the sale.
Information sourced from — www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?ui...
The Rotor programme was developed to advance the wartime radar technology in detecting and locating fast-flying jets. It was approved by the Air Council in June 1950. The first stage of the programme, Rotor 1, was to technically restore existing Chain Home, centrimetric early warning, Chain Home Extra Low and Ground Controlled Interception Stations and put them under the control of RAF Fighter Command. There were three main components to the Rotor Stations: the technical site, including the radars, operation blocks and other installations; the domestic site, where personnel were accommodated; and the stand-by set house, a reserve power supply. The technical site for RAF Neatishead Rotor Station was located at TG 346 184. Crew were accommodated at RAF Coltishall and the stand-by set house was located at TG 342 200.
The two main constructions at Rotor stations were the operations block and guardhouse. Operations blocks were the largest structures built at Rotor stations. They were constructed of reinforced concrete and designed to withstand 2,000lb bombs. The outer walls and roof of the Rotor operations blocks were 9ft 10in thick and the internal walls between 5.9in to 1ft 11in metres wide. The exterior was coated with an asphalt damp course and surrounded by a 5.9in brick wall. The roof was usually flush with the ground surface and up to 14 ft 2in of earth was mounded on top. The operations blocks, identified by a 'R' prefix, contained technical equipment, domestic facilities, workshops and a plant for air conditioning and gas filtration, all within a single complex.
Four of the blocks (R1-R4) were underground constructions designed for the more vulnerable sites on the east and south-east coasts. Others were semi-submerged (R6) or above ground (R5, R7-R11) heavily protected structures built to withstand 1,000lb bombs. The guardhouses were designed to resemble ''bungalows''. They were single-storey buildings capped with a flat, concrete roof, above which a pitched roof contained water tanks. They were generally constructed of brick, but were built to blend in with the local architectural style. The guard rooms also contained an armoury, store, rest room and lavatories. Those associated with underground operations blocks featured a projecting rear annex that housed a stairwell leading down to an access tunnel.
Aerial photography from 1965 shows the R3 operations bunker at the site, as well as a Type 13, a Type 7 and four Type 14 radar plinths. A range of ancillary buildings survive. The area is part of an active base and museum. In March 1947 the station was established as a Sector Operations Centre. Between 1961 to 1963 the station was reduced to care and maintenance and was then reopened as a Master Radar Station. A fire in 1966 destroyed the underground operations complex and the station was closed until 1974 with a new data-handling system occupying the original Happidrome. In 1994 the Air Defence Radar Museum opened at the site, which also continues to serve as an operational base.
Personal experience of working at Neatishead communicated by email states ''I was posted there as a sgt in 1973 and it was fully operational, T85, T84, HF200 and more all working. Furthermore, the other half of my Locking entry was posted there in 1971 and all worked on the operational radars, txs and rxs. I left in 1976 and visited again in 1977. T85, stuff of legends, 60Mw with all 12 Txs running''. Detailed history of the 50 years of the founding of RAF Neatishead 1941-1991. R30 operations room, R12 Radar equipment building and R3 underground operations block; Listed. For the designation records of this site please see The National Heritage List for England. Decommissioned 2006 and sold. Feb 2013, 25 acres of the site were again sold. The Air Defence Radar Museum was not part of the sale.
Information sourced from — www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?ui...
Close up view of nose cone of the Avro Vulcan XM597 at National Museum of Flight, East Fortune Airfield.
Vulcan XM603 at the Avro Heritage Museum.
These are actually from the cockpit of XM602; we moved inside due to the weather :)
I thought I'd try something different, so these were taken with the TTArtisan F/2 Fisheye.
Jessie and I at the surprisingly cool bunker at the Titan Missile museum. It's an actual old nuclear launch silo and has all kinds of really weird Dr. Strangelove vibes to it. I had to wear this awesome hard hat because I was over 5' 8" and lo and behold on my way out I actually did smack my head on a low bulkhead so hard that the hat went flying.
RAF Defence Radar Museum information board - flic.kr/p/2iYmjad
In the Air Defence environment, if the fighters failed to shoot down the enemy, the last line of protection against air-attack is the ground-to-air missiles. Developed in the late 1950's to protect key airfields against high-level attack by Soviet bombers, the Bloodhound Mk.I missile entered service in 1958. The upgraded Bloodhound Mk.II, like the one here at the museum entered service in 1964.
Originally operated just in the U.K, the initial Bloodhound Mk.I deployment consisted of eight missile sites - RAF Dunholme Lodge, RAF Watton, RAF Marham, RAF Rattlesden, RAF Woolfox Lodge, RAF Carnaby, RAF Warboys and RAF Breighton with a trial site at RAF Nort Coates. The Bloodhound was also deployed by the RAF in countries such as Germany, Cyprus, Singapore and Malaysia. Switzerland also bought the Bloodhound.
At the time, the British Nuclear Deterrent was carried by the Vulcan, Victor and Valiant long-range bombers. The primary reason for the particular sites in the U.K being chosen was the defence of the ''V-bomber'' bases in East Anglia and Lincolnshire. After the Nuclear Deterrent role passed to the Royal Navy Polaris submarines in 1970, all Bloodhound missiles within the U.K were withdrawn and stored or transferred to Germany for airfield defence.
As time went on, the possibility of low-level attack by the Soviet bombers or cruise missiles led to a reappraisal of U.K air defences. This new threat resulted in the Bloodhound's arriving back in the U.K at RAF West Raynham in Norfolk in late 1975. With deployment of the new British Rapier ground-to-air missile system to Germany, all the Bloodhound's were returned to the U.K by 1983 and were placed in operation at four more sites in East Anglia - RAF Bawdsey, RAF Barkston Heath, RAF Wyton and RAF Wattisham.
By now, the Bloodhound force was directly under the Operational control of the RAF Neatishead ''Cold War'' Operations Room, now part of the RAF Radar Defence Museum ! Each missile flight could also act independently if needed. The Bloodhound system used both the ''fixed'' Type 87 and the ''mobile'' Type 86 radars for target detection and for semi-active guidance to the target. In 1990, as the Cold War wound down, the remaining missiles were relocated to RAF West Raynham and RAF Wattisham with plans to operate them until 1995 but they were retired from service in 1991.
The missiles could engage targets flying at 65,000 feet out to a range of over 50 miles. It was extremely fast, exceeding the speed of sound (760 mph) almost soon as it left the launcher, and at height, reach in more than twice that speed.
General characteristics -
▪︎Type: Surface-to-Air Missile
▪︎Place of origin: United Kingdom
▪︎In Service: 1958 (Mk.I) / 1964 (Mk.II) to 1991
▪︎Designed: 1950's
▪︎Manufacturer: Bristol Aeroplane Company
▪︎Number Built: 783
▪︎Variants: Mk.I / Mk.II / Mk.III / Mk.IV
▪︎Mass Overall: 5,000lb
▪︎Length Overall: 27ft 9in
▪︎Diameter: Main Body 1ft 9.5in
▪︎Warhead: Continuous-Rod Warhead
▪︎Detonation Mechanism: Proximity Fuze
▪︎Engine: 2 x Ramjets / 4 x Solid Fuel Boosters
▪︎Wingspan Overall: (9ft 3in
▪︎Operational Range: Mk.I 32 miles / Mk.II 118 miles
▪︎Maximum Speed: Mach 2.7 (2,072mph)
▪︎Guidance System: Semi-Active Radar Homing
▪︎Steering System: Control Surfaces
▪︎Launch Platform: Fixed Installation.
Sourced from - en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodhound_(missile)
This is one of three Gnat simulators known to have been built, the other survivor is with the Newark Air Museum. It was fully restored by the Boulton Paul Association members, who added the nose and and a Red Arrows sound system.
The Redifon 101 Simulator used an analogue computer to produce a ''standard simulator''. Unfortunately digital computers arrived very quickly, making analogue obsolete. A small batch was built for the RAF, representing a Jet Provost Mk.V from one seat and a deHavilland 125 from the other seat. The simulator was given to the Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum by the Imperial War Museum Duxford, it is unfortunate that the hydraulic powerpack, frequently convertor for a 400 cycle supply and documentation are all missing.
Development of the single-seat lightweight Gnat fighter was started as a private venture by the the former Folland Aircraft Company in 1951. The RAF did not adopt it as a fighter, however, they did use it as a two-seat transonic advanced trainer. Fourteen were ordered in 1958, and total orders reached 105 by 1965. The Gnat entered service in 1962 and by the end of that year had superceded the Vampire T.11 trainer as the RAF's standard advanced trainer. Export sales were achieved, especially to the Indian Air Force, and it is thought that the simulator may have come from there.
The Gnat found fame with it's aerobatic capabilities, firstly with the RAF 's ''Yellow Jackets'' display team who displayed in 1964, and then the ''Red Arrows'' making their first appearance in 1965. The Gnat's more versatile replacement, the Hawker Siddeley Hawk, entered service in 1978, although the Red Arrows did not upgrade to the new type until 1980.
▪︎Wing Span: 24ft 0in
▪︎Length: 31ft 9in
▪︎Height: 8ft 7in
▪︎Powerplant: Bristol Orpheus 100
▪︎Range: 1,180 miles
▪︎Maximum Speed: 695 mph
Generously gifted to the Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum by Boulton Paul Associates.
(Information from the Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum)
The Leavenworth Series: A Military History of the Cold War is an exciting new series at the Dole Institute in 2012. It will be a fascinating and in-depth look at the historical actions and events that fueled the Cold War. The Cold War lasted roughly 50 years and spanned a dynamic and tense time in the context of international history. The programs will offer an inside look at the key tactics and pivotal decisions that shaped these world-defining events. But beyond simply focusing on the strategic thermonuclear dynamic between the United States and the Soviet Union, the lecture series will highlight this ideological contest's global nature by providing insights into hot spots such as Cuba, Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan.
This military installation is the transmitter site (TX site) for nearby RAF Neatishead, it houses the transmitter building for the VHF, UHF and high power HF transmitters for the controllers at RAF Neatishead for aircraft communication.
Original site visit photos from 18th June 2010 – www.flickr.com/photos/139375961@N08/shares/10y2BD8GdM
The Remote Radar Head Neatishead (RRH Neatishead), is an air defence radar site operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF). Originally known as Royal Air Force Station Neatishead, or commonly RAF Neatishead, it was established during the World War II, and consists of the main technical site located at Neatishead, together with a number of remote, and sometimes unmanned sites.
The station motto is Caelum Tuemur, meaning ''We Watch over the Sky''. The station badge depicts the lowered head of a horned bull; and relates to the origins of the word 'Neatishead', meaning 'the vassal's household'. RAF Neatishead was previously 'parented' (for administrative and support functions) by the nearby RAF Coltishall (a fighter station latterly operating four squadrons of the ground-attack SEPECAT Jaguar). Following the closure of RAF Coltishall in 2006, RRH Neatishead became parented by RAF Marham in West Norfolk.
When RAF Neatishead was first established, its primary function was as a 'Control and Reporting Centre' (CRC) for the south of the United Kingdom. Equipment previously located in the base included: Type 7 GCI, AN/FPS-6 height finding radar, Type 80 'Green Garlic' radar, Type 84 radar, Type 85 'Blue Yeoman' radar, 3 Decca (later Plessey) HF200 height finding radars, and a R15 radar.
On 16th February 1966, a fire broke out in the bunker, RAF station fire teams were unsuccessful in putting the fire out and so local civilian fire crews were called. Three civilian firefighters died and the fire burned for nine days before it was fully extinguished. Later that year, LAC Cheeseman was sentenced to seven years for starting the fire and causing the deaths. The station was closed for eight years, re-opening in 1974 after a major rebuild of the bunker complex.
The operational nature of the work undertaken at Neatishead was transferred to the previously mothballed site at RAF Bawdsey in 1966, with Bawdsey reverting to a care and maintenance programme when Neatishead came back on line in 1974. In November 1982, Group Captain Joan Hopkins took command of the station, becoming the first female RAF officer to take command of an operational station. During July 1990 the Type 85 radar was decommissioned after 23 years of use, it was replaced by the Type 93.
In April 2004, the decision was taken to substantially reduce activities at RAF Neatishead, and by 2006, the base had been downgraded from an RAF station to Remote Radar Head (RRH) status, but its adjacent museum remains open. Its former gate guardian, a F-4 Phantom previously based at RAF Wattisham, was cut up for scrap in 2005 despite interest from the Radar Museum. In October 2006, local news media reported that a buyer had been found for the now disused section of the base. The 25½ acres site was advertised again in January 2010, with an asking price of £4,000,000. The site was subsequently purchased for an undisclosed amount by Zimbabwean-born British entrepreneur William Sachiti.
RRH Neatishead controls the remote site of RRH Trimingham with its Lockheed TPS 77 radar. It forms part of the UK's air defences – namely the UK 'Air Surveillance And Control System' (ASACS), and is part of the larger NATO air defence. RRH Neatishead is adjacent to the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum. In July 2022, it was announced that the radar equipment at RAF Trimingham would be moved 8 miles to the RRH Neatishead site due to the threat of coastal erosion, and the increased interference experienced by radar operators from the off-shore wind turbines; the move was completed by the end of 2023.
Information sourced from – en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Neatishead
The Rotor programme was developed to advance the wartime radar technology in detecting and locating fast-flying jets. It was approved by the Air Council in June 1950. The first stage of the programme, Rotor 1, was to technically restore existing Chain Home, centrimetric early warning, Chain Home Extra Low and Ground Controlled Interception Stations and put them under the control of RAF Fighter Command. There were three main components to the Rotor Stations: the technical site, including the radars, operation blocks and other installations; the domestic site, where personnel were accommodated; and the stand-by set house, a reserve power supply. The technical site for RAF Neatishead Rotor Station was located at TG 346 184. Crew were accommodated at RAF Coltishall and the stand-by set house was located at TG 342 200.
The two main constructions at Rotor stations were the operations block and guardhouse. Operations blocks were the largest structures built at Rotor stations. They were constructed of reinforced concrete and designed to withstand 2,000lb bombs. The outer walls and roof of the Rotor operations blocks were 9ft 10in thick and the internal walls between 5.9in to 1ft 11in metres wide. The exterior was coated with an asphalt damp course and surrounded by a 5.9in brick wall. The roof was usually flush with the ground surface and up to 14 ft 2in of earth was mounded on top. The operations blocks, identified by a 'R' prefix, contained technical equipment, domestic facilities, workshops and a plant for air conditioning and gas filtration, all within a single complex.
Four of the blocks (R1-R4) were underground constructions designed for the more vulnerable sites on the east and south-east coasts. Others were semi-submerged (R6) or above ground (R5, R7-R11) heavily protected structures built to withstand 1,000lb bombs. The guardhouses were designed to resemble ''bungalows''. They were single-storey buildings capped with a flat, concrete roof, above which a pitched roof contained water tanks. They were generally constructed of brick, but were built to blend in with the local architectural style. The guard rooms also contained an armoury, store, rest room and lavatories. Those associated with underground operations blocks featured a projecting rear annex that housed a stairwell leading down to an access tunnel.
Aerial photography from 1965 shows the R3 operations bunker at the site, as well as a Type 13, a Type 7 and four Type 14 radar plinths. A range of ancillary buildings survive. The area is part of an active base and museum. In March 1947 the station was established as a Sector Operations Centre. Between 1961 to 1963 the station was reduced to care and maintenance and was then reopened as a Master Radar Station. A fire in 1966 destroyed the underground operations complex and the station was closed until 1974 with a new data-handling system occupying the original Happidrome. In 1994 the Air Defence Radar Museum opened at the site, which also continues to serve as an operational base.
Personal experience of working at Neatishead communicated by email states ''I was posted there as a sgt in 1973 and it was fully operational, T85, T84, HF200 and more all working. Furthermore, the other half of my Locking entry was posted there in 1971 and all worked on the operational radars, txs and rxs. I left in 1976 and visited again in 1977. T85, stuff of legends, 60Mw with all 12 Txs running''. Detailed history of the 50 years of the founding of RAF Neatishead 1941-1991. R30 operations room, R12 Radar equipment building and R3 underground operations block; Listed. For the designation records of this site please see The National Heritage List for England. Decommissioned 2006 and sold. Feb 2013, 25 acres of the site were again sold. The Air Defence Radar Museum was not part of the sale.
Information sourced from — www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?ui...
The Kelvedon Nuclear Bunker
Hidden in a wood off the A128 Ongar - Brentwood Road, is a small bungalow which hides a big secret. Behind it lies a three floored bunker complex in which 600 people would have been confined behind blast proof doors in the event of a nuclear war.
The deep, 125 foot, bunker was built in 1952/3 as part of Rotor, an urgent government building programme to improve Britain's air defence network. The bunker was the Sector Operations Command for the RAF Fighter Command. Known as SOC - R4, it was to provide command and control of the London Sector of Fighter Command.
Once into the bungalow, it leads to a 100 yard tunnel before you are in the bunker itself. Above you are two more floors, the 'hill' which covers it, and a radio mast, one of two, which would have been vital for communications.
The reason for the bunker was to take on a far more potentially catastrophic role in the 1960's. Because of the threat of nuclear war the bunker became the regional government bunker for London. The aim of the bunker was that it was to be one of the government administration centres communicating with the many other smaller bunkers situated throughout the country, organising the country after a nuclear attack.
Model of an Ohio class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) surrounded by patches from Ohio class subs assigned to Submarine Group 9, based at Bangor WA
Day 1, before we had flashlights and before the snow Mark looks down the escape hatch for life forms.
Oh! Superman 0709-08
static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/0...
Back in the DDR
During the Cold War East and
West slugged it out over design
and consumerism. One tried to
excite demand, the other had
to suppress it says.
Stephen Bayley
The Observer,
Sunday September 7 2008
www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/sep/07/design
Guardian: www.guardian.co.uk/
A chemical toilet for a nuclear bunker.
50 years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, the National Museum of Flight will take you back in time to experience what life was like in the middle of the Cold War.
Find out more about the Cold War Experience here.
The remains of a WWII Tank Landing Craft which was sunk here in The Wash in 1947 and used as a Bombing Range Target, along with barges in a series of targets spread over The Wash.