RAF 'Y' Stations etc. Discussion Thread

Bletchley is having a major rework, new management and a big swap round in who there (the sub organisations)... some even being kicked off site!

A bit of a side shoot but I have now located what I'm fairly sure is Arkley View SCU.
www.flashearth.com/?lat=51.650636&lon=-0...&z=19.2&r=0&src="msl"

added to my google map too.
/community/showthread.php?6672-Bedfordshires-hidden-WWII-past ...

Dear Jenna

Arkley view was very close to the bulding in your picture, that was called Arkely Lodge and was also used by RSS. Arkley view was to the left and further back from the road. I have a 1946 aerial photo that shows the house and the intercept building behind it. As it grew in size and importance during WW2 they took over many of the local houses.
[IMG]/community/84044=5930-Arkley View2.jpg[/img]
In this picture Arkley Lodge is near the right hand edge. It was much smaller than it is now. Arkley View itself seems to have been demolished to build a group of new houses. You can see WW2 photos of the front and rear of Arkely View at www.secretlisteners.org .
All best
Stan

Excellent information Stan, many thanks.

Thanks to Stan's info I managed to get my hands on some of the local archive and can add a bit more....

The house I have highlighted is 'Oaklands' and 'Arkley View' was across the road under the houses built in 1964.

"Oaklands was the administrative section and orderly room whilst the sergeants' mess was in Scotswood on the opposite side of the main road. Various large houses such as The Lawns,
Rowley Lodge and Meadow Bank were used as billets" from Bob King (G3ASE) notes.

Another location nailed down, thanks Stan.

GE with pre 1964 map overlay.


OS pre war map


pre war map with 1964 builders overlay

Jenna
A nice piece of research and a nifty piece of map overlay, excellent.

Your sources are impeccable too, you can't get better than Bob King, he was there on the spot at the time.

RSS seem to have taken over most of the large houses in Arkley for one use or another. I wonder what the locals thought was going on! They were all in Royal Signals uniform so nobody would have known they worked for MI6.
All best
Stan

No mention of Bedell's End, near Chelmsford in Essex?
I know this site was later used by the Marconi Company for DF / radar research, but was it originally a WWII intercept site?

Some years ago David Hare wrote a play for TV Licking Hitler about this era. It was almost impossible to obtain until I spotted this
www.stojo.com/PFT_Hitler_Stockers.html
It is a copy from VHS but view-able. Stocker's Copper was also one of the best plays of its generation

HF wrote:

No mention of Bedell's End, near Chelmsford in Essex?
I know this site was later used by the Marconi Company for DF / radar research, but was it originally a WWII intercept site?

Welcome to Aix Dave.

Don't think Bedell's End was a Y Station, though I am still working through some 'new' ones not in the audit. I assume your site is somewhere around HERE ,

There was an Interservice station at Chelmsford close to HERE .

Carnaby;85187 wrote:

Welcome to Aix Dave.

Don't think Bedell's End was a Y Station, though I am still working through some 'new' ones not in the audit. I assume your site is somewhere around HERE ,

There was an Interservice station at Chelmsford close to HERE .

Thanks.

I would say both those locations are 'Bedells End', a general area within Writtle, to the west of Chelmsford.
The site is listed as SMR 15939 (see unlockingessex.essexcc.gov.uk for example) where it is mentioned that it 'may' have opened during WWII. There was certainly an underground bunker, though this may have been constructed for a later radar system. There is nothing there to see today, other than a short stretch of tarmac.

I suspect the Marconi D/F station used the site of the wartime 'Y' station which was at wM 124272 (=TL 678085)

The corresponding station at Ford End was wM 102352 (TL6564165) The control room was at wM 121344 (TL665157)

Source: TNA HW41/401

I note that Flight magazine states Bedells End is near Cheltenham ! (oops)

www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1959/1959 - 3467.html

There are records of an HF DF station at Bedells End, it was described as an Interservice Research facility. It was located on the western edge of current Chelmsford a few 100m north of the A1060 Roxwell Rd. The site continued to be used by Marconi after WW2 for aviation radio research.

The 5 DF stations at Ford End were very interesting. They were built in the latter stages of WW2 to get more accurate fixes on U-boats and continued well after WW2 under Composite Signals. The only information I have about its post war work is that at least one of the operators spoke fluent Russian! If you look on Google satellite you will see the original control rooms still present (two nissen huts end to end) near the junction of Pleshey Rd and Park Rd south of Ford End. 1946 aerial photo of the 2 control rooms near the bottom and one of the DF stations attached.

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Stan