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RAF Bawdsey
NearFelixstowe,Suffolk in England
The manor building at RAF Bawdsey during 1992
First in the field[1]
Site information
Type	Royal Air Force station
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Air Force
Condition	Closed
Location
RAF Bawdsey Shown within Suffolk
Coordinates	51°59′32″N001°24′10″E / 51.99222°N 1.40278°E /51.99222; 1.40278
Site history
Built	1936 (1936)
In use	1936–1991 (1991)
Fate	Converted into aboarding school which operated between 1994 and 2016 and later a holiday park. Transmitter block now a radar museum.

Royal Air Force Bawdsey or more simplyRAF Bawdsey is a formerRoyal Air Forcestation situated on the eastern coast inSuffolk,England. Also known asBawdsey Research Station (BRS), the firstChain Home radar station was built there, characterized by eight tall masts, four for transmitting and four for receiving. When the research group moved toDundee in September 1939, the radar station was left active under the name RAF Bawdsey. The site later hosted aBristol Bloodhoundsurface-to-air missile station until 1990, with the station closing in 1991.

Bawdsey Manor, dating from 1886, was taken over in March 1936 by theAir Ministry for developing theChain Home (CH) RDF (radar) system. The station's Superintendent was initiallyRobert Watson-Watt, later followed byA.P. Rowe. The experimental radar station was located just northeast of the Manor, about 200 yards (180 m) distant. When war was declared in September 1939, fears of a possible commando raid on the group led to the development activities being relocated, first toDundee, Scotland, and later toWorth Matravers nearSwanage inDorset on the southern coast of England, where they became theTelecommunications Research Establishment (TRE).

In the 1950s, the Bawdsey CH station was upgraded as part of theROTOR programme and gained an underground control centre with living quarters and air filtration to make it capable of operating during nuclear attack. The command centre was accessed by way of a small bungalow which can be seen on the left of the road which runs from Bawdsey village to Bawdsey Manor.

The station was stood down for a number of years, but was re-opened in 1978 as a Bloodhound missile site, with the launchers located just to the northwest of the CH site. The missiles were moved toRAF West Raynham in July 1990 and the station closed in March 1991.^[2]

The remains of the site are still fairly well preserved and will undergo restoration in 2017 due to a £1.4 million Lottery Grant.^[3]

• History of Radar
• Robert Watson-Watt

• "Albert's Bus" Russell Barnard
• "What did you do in the "Cold War" Dad?" Part 2 – Master Radar Station
• Just tell us anything about you, Bawdsey and what happened after you left
• Bawdsey Radar Group
• RAF Bawdsey Chain Home Radar Station

• Royal Air Force stations in Suffolk

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