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A Royal Observer Corps (ROC) underground monitoring post, opened in August 1960 and closed in September 1991. It was part of a network of such posts, designed to monitor fallout in the event of a nuclear attack in the UK.
The Cold War is far too extensive a subject for me to go in to here. However, if you do want to know more about its history and the countries that were involved, please see here: www.historylearningsite.co.uk/coldwar.htm
Further to the west on the spit are the buildings of the second phase. The most distinctive structures built during this phase were the two Vibration Test Buildings, now commonly referred to as ‘The Pagodas’ (National Trust buildings E2 and E3). The specification for the Vibration Test Buildings included the ability to withstand the accidental detonation of 400lbs (181.4kg) of high explosives; they were designed by G W Dixon ARIBA for the UK Atomic Energy Authority and are identical. Both Vibration Test Buildings, their control room and centrifuge were constructed in 1960.
They comprise a large reinforced concrete central cell 16.47m (54ft) by 7.30m (24ft) covered by a massive reinforced concrete roof supported on sixteen reinforced concrete columns. To the south and east of the main chambers are self-contained plant rooms. The main access to the building is from the south through an entrance passage which was originally sealed by a pair of outward opening metal covered wooden doors. On its western side, adjacent to the main entrance passage is a blocked doorway that led to a small staff room and toilet. Inside the buildings on the eastern side of the passageway one set of stairs gives access down to the main test cell and another to a walkway around the top of the chamber. At the end of the passageway is a lift pit, which allowed test pieces to be lowered on to the floor of the main test cell. To assist in manoeuvring heavy objects there are a number of substantial steel eyelets screwed into the underside of the roof. A travelling crane also ran on rails mounted on a ledge beneath the windows, a loose plate on the floor recorded ‘Becker twin Lift Maximum Working Load 40 tons serial A-2647-2’.
The floor of the main cell is formed of parallel and narrowly spaced steel ‘I’ section beams for test rigs to be firmly secured to the structure. To either side are cable ducts. At the same time as being vibrated objects might also be placed in jackets to simulate extremes of heat and cold, or in a portable altitude chamber to mimic the effects of altitudinal changes. Set into the north wall are seven steel plates with vertical cruciform slots that were also used for securing tests rigs or monitoring equipment. Below these are eight pipes opening from the service passageway to the north. In the south wall are three steel plates with horizontal slots, above the plate is stencilled 1-27ft and below it 1-7.5m. The walkway around three sides of the cell was originally protected by a handrail and there is another handrail fixed to the main wall. Running around the wall is a cable conduit and attached to the wall are various pipes for carrying electrical wires, switches, junction boxes and pressure gauges. Signs on the wall above the lift pit record ‘Telephone Instrument Room’, ‘Vac Pump Running, Vac Pump Stopped’ with associated light fittings. At the north east corner of the cell is a doorway to the rear service passage running east to west along the north side of the building. To the east a flight of stairs gives access to the eastern plant room. To the west another set of stairs provides access to the northern side of the lift pit, the upper walkway and to an emergency escape passage through the north side of the traverse. To the south of the main cell are free-standing Burwell brick-built plant rooms. The main plant room is entered through two sets of double doors on its south side, internally are four machinery mounting plinths. Attached to its west wall is a metal cabinet that probably housed equipment to operate the hydraulic compressor for the internal lift. At the eastern end of the building is a store room with a blocked doorway to the south.
Laboratory 3 (National Trust building F2) built between 1955 and 1958, was the climatic testing lab comprising two elements, the laboratory itself and the Condense Pump House to the east. Its function was to either warm or chill a weapon to simulate the variations of temperature that it might face in service. It is constructed from reinforced concrete with a barrel vaulted roof and entered from its south side through a concrete canopy, and whose southern wall was revetted with shingle. To manoeuvre the heavy test objects into position there was a hoist mounted on a beam secured to the underside of the canopy and roof of the main chamber, traces of its fittings may still be seen. Entry into the chamber was originally through double wooden doors, in common with the other earlier Laboratories security was strengthened by the addition of crude welded steel doors with may be post-AWRE features. At the top of these doors is a slot for the overhead lifting beam indicating that the doors were added while the building was operational. The interior comprises a large central chamber, 24.50m (80ft 5ins) by 6.0m (19ft 6in), and is divided into two sections. To the south was the preparation area and on its walls are the remains of electric conduits and small bore pipes for electric cabling. To the north was a rear insulated chamber 13.5m (44ft 4in) in length, which was separated from the preparation area by a cement covered expandomesh wall and a metal clad sliding door carried on an overhead rail. This slid into a corridor to the west that also gives access to a small switch room. The working area of the rear chamber measured 9.14m (30ft) by 3m (10ft) by 3m (10ft) and its floor set on four dwarf concrete walls was capable of supporting 6 tons. The temperature range that could be achieved varied between plus 60° to minus 60° centigrade, and humidity 20° on either side of the ambient, while undergoing thermal tests an object might also be subject to vibration.
US Navy Lockheed Neptune patrol plane, ca. spring 1955, probably flying out of Kodiak Naval Station over international waters of the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia. See www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2023-...
Color-adjusted and manipulated in Photoshop. Donated by Charles "Chuck" Shields, Jr.
Navy Medicine Historical Files - Biographical Series - Charles Shields Sr.
Treatment for burns and injuries of seven Navy airmen at NH Oakland, 1955, after being shot down by Russian MIGs over the Bering Strait on June 22, 1955, and rescued by Eskimos. The patients included chief electronics technician Elmer R. Janke of Alameda, aviation machinist mate Thaddeus Maziarz of Oakland, aviation ordnanceman Martin E. Berg of Alameda, Ens. David G. Assard, Terryville, Conn.; aviation technician Edward Benko, Chicago; airman technician Charles W. Shields, Clawson, Mich., and aviation ordnanceman Donald E. Sonnek, Minnesota Lake, Minn.
SEE www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2023-...
Color-adjusted and manipulated in Photoshop. Donated by Charles "Chuck" Shields, Jr.
Navy Medicine Historical Files - Biographical Series - Charles Shields Sr.
Charles Shields Sr. in bed. Treatment for burns and injuries of seven Navy airmen at NH Oakland, 1955, after being shot down by Russian MIGs over the Bering Strait on June 22, 1955, and rescued by Eskimos. The patients included chief electronics technician Elmer R. Janke of Alameda, aviation machinist mate Thaddeus Maziarz of Oakland, aviation ordnanceman Martin E. Berg of Alameda, Ens. David G. Assard, Terryville, Conn.; aviation technician Edward Benko, Chicago; airman technician Charles W. Shields, Clawson, Mich., and aviation ordnanceman Donald E. Sonnek, Minnesota Lake, Minn.
SEE www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2023-...
Color-adjusted and manipulated in Photoshop. Donated by Charles "Chuck" Shields, Jr.
Navy Medicine Historical Files - Biographical Series - Charles Shields Sr.
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...
Positioned on the South side of the old, disused segment of road, close to where it joins the new A148 new main road. This Royal Observer Corps spotting post was opened in 1958 and closed in 1991. The ROC Post is very overgrown.
All the surface features remain intact with some flaking of the green paint. There is a sign which reads ''ROC Post 6/B1'', the hatch is open. Internally the post is clean and free of vandalism. There is a wide red strip painted along the top of one wall with the figure 17 in the middle. Some wiring remains together with the folding table and shelf and the cupboard. An Orlit A in good condition stands nearby.
Experience from World War Two identified that there would be a need for increased protection from enemy aircraft if the United Kingdom was ever faced with the prospect of being at war again. Although the ROC was finding that aircraft monitoring was becoming increasingly difficult to plot with the development of new faster aircraft, new aircraft monitoring posts were developed to assist observers to monitor aircraft.
The idea for these new posts originated in 1947, however it was only during 1951/52 as part of the programme to update the air defences through the Rotor Plan that more substantial buildings were built to offer at least some level of protection from the elements or attack. Although some of these new structures were built of brick, many sites received pre-cast concrete panelled structures known as ''Orlit Posts'', after the manufacturers of the structures Messrs Orlit Ltd.
These Orlit structures were split into two sections. The entrance door led into the smaller roofed section which was used as a shelter and store with a sliding door into the open section which housed the post instrument and chart on top of a wooden mounting. There were two types of Orlit posts, the Orlit 'A' was at ground level and the Orlit 'B' was raised 6 feet off the ground on four legs with a ladder for access.
Information sourced from — www.subbrit.org.uk/sites/melton-constable-roc-post/
US Navy Lockheed Neptune patrol plane, ca. spring 1955, probably flying out of Kodiak Naval Station over international waters of the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia. See www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2023-...
Color-adjusted and manipulated in Photoshop. Donated by Charles "Chuck" Shields, Jr.
Navy Medicine Historical Files - Biographical Series - Charles Shields Sr.