Chain Home RDF station, Rye

View of Receiver Block and the concrete bases of its towers

The 240 foot high receiver towers were built of wood, to avoid interfering with the weak received radar echoes. The concrete bases of these wooden towers were larger than those used for the transmitter towers.

From its location this must be the R-block, but it doesn't look as it would have done in WWII. It would have been surrounded by a blast wall, on the outside of which would have been piled up earth. This blast wall seems to have been taken down and the grassy piles nearby suggest what happened to the earth. I think the top third of the building's height, indicated by the different coloured brickwork, would have been filled with gravel in an attempt to limit the damage of a direct hit. Originally I think there would have been fewer windows in the block.

In use this might have looked as below:-

The house at right in the 1983 photo above, known as Pylon Cottages, looks very similar to that at left in the wartime photo, which is inside the perimeter fence. It may have been a standard item at East Coast CH stations. However, a minute from the Chief of the Air Staff (PRO AIR2/3487) dated 24th September 1939 states

It is essential that quarters for personnel should be well away from the R.D.F. Station and dispersed so that personnel who are not on duty shall not be subject to a high risk of bombardment. It has therefore been decided that buildings for living accommodation of personnel should be sited at least a mile from the R.D.F. Station and that individual buildings should be well spaced and protected by traverses and suitably camouflaged.

Peter Facey, Winchester, England
20151017 originated

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