Atomic Weapons Research Establishment. Orford ... - English Heritage

Figure 4: Photograph taken during the 1990s of the First World War Royal Flying Corps
buildings that were used during the 1930s for radar research, to the left is C13 and to the right
C8, most of the buildings in the centre have subsequently been demolished (c) English Heritage
BB93/09845
the Tizard Committee visited Orford Ness and saw aircraft followed for more than 40
minutes. The next month, on 24 July, while tracking a Wallace bi-plane other echoes
were also detected from a flight of three Hart aircraft, the first time several aircraft were
tracked by radar and by January 1936 the team was also able to determine the bearing
of approaching aircraft (Crowther & Whiddington 1947, 5-6). The work at Orford Ness
had demonstrated the viability of the new technology, but as its development expanded
the main focus of the research moved 9 miles (15km) to the south to the more spacious
and convivial Bawdsey Manor. After its establishment the main function of the Orford
Ness team continued on the development of transmitters, receivers and antennae, as
well evaluating the whole system.
The Second World War
During the Second World War the airfield was disused and covered with concrete
blocks to deny its use to enemy aircraft. The principal occupant of the spit was the
Aeronautical Armament Experimental Establishment, its main activities included the
assessment of the vulnerability of aircraft to hostile fire, including captured German
aircraft, which were brought to Orford Ness and reassembled. In one incident an enemy
aircraft came to them, when after attacking Harwich, an Italian bi-plane developed
an overheated engine and landed on Orford Beach. It is now preserved at the RAF
Museum, Hendon. One relic of the lethality and vulnerability work is the large aircraft
wing embedded in the south bank of Stony Ditch that was probably used to study self-
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