Detecting the Air Attack

Missile Attack

This is the familiar sight of Fylingdales, Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) station during the Cold War period. Constructed during the early 1960's as part of a chain protecting the USA. The famous radomes have now been replaced with a pyramid construction.

Had a missile attack been launched against the U.K. the Situation Display Console pictured below would have warned of the impending disaster. The console is part of the exhibition of the old Fylingdales station at the Radar Museum in Neatishead Norfolk, a chill ran down my spine when I saw this [July 2005] and realised what it was. The BMEWS was designed to detect missiles during their launch phase and track space objects calculating their trajectory to determine if this would impact on UK soil. The left hand table leg contains a phone console shown in close up, the top right button is marked 'UKWMO' and the bottom right 'MOD', which would have communicated the bad news to the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO) and the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

Photo's courtesy of the Radar Museum, Neatishead.

Aircraft Attack

During the Cold War, radar techniques developed at a pace. The original WW2 radar stations were superseded by the ROTOR radar sites in 1952-53. By 1955 ROTOR had been abandoned for a system of Master Radar Stations. It is beyond the scope of this site to explore the development of the UK land based radar systems. It is sufficient to say whatever system was in place, it detected approaching hostile aircraft resulting in the scrambling of UK fighters to investigate the approaching force. Had these hostile aircraft not turned away from the UK an Attack Warning would have been issued.

Strike Command

Either BMEWS at Fylingdales or one of the master radar stations would have contacted MOD Strike Command near High Wycombe or the 'standby' UKWMO centre at ROC Preston, to issue the public warning via the HANDEL system described on subsequent pages.