Ron Bates worked on several of the radar installations in this area including Prawle, and we are grateful for his accurate information on the subject

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I was "invited" by HQ Fighter Command to leave working on the East Coast CH radar at Staxton Wold, just south of Scarborough in 1955 and was one of only 2 SNCO's who had the know how on AMES Type 1 (to give the radar it's formal classification) to take over Prawle which was on Care & Maintenance. It had not been operational for some time, but I'm not sure how long. Having conferred with Lyn on starting married life in Devon, I " accepted the invitation" and came down to Prawle on my motor bike JET 74 to take over from George Pharoah. He had married a local girl, but can't remember her name.

The radar was the West Coast type with two 365ft guyed masts resting on a 2" steel ball, supporting the Transmitter curtain aerial We had two transmitters the A and B transmitters each with their own aerial system. The East Coast Type had 365 ft towers with outrigger platforms at 50ft and 200ft.

The Transmitter site located beyond the lane down to the farm to the north of the Portlemouth road. To access the receiver site we had to go past the transmitter site, enter gate there, come back across the site to the lane to the farm, unlock one gate, cross the lane and then unlock a second gate to get the ops block/receiver stations. The receiver aerials were 200ft wooden towers.

I opened up the site to become operational when Ringstead closed down and the ops staff were all transferred to Prawle. We were operation only for a few months before closing down and stripping out all the equipment. Once the site was cleared, I transferred to Hope Cove and closed that down in '59.

There was also a GEE station that was also there on the south side of the road to Portlemouth. That was run by Harold Philbrick, who I believe also married a local girl and lived in Kingsbridge after moving from Torcross. I can't remember which group they were associated but 3 sites all transmitted signals for aircraft to navigate by and a fourth site, usually on one of the other networks monitored their signals.

We also had CHEL ( Extra Low), using a version of the naval radar NT277 which abounded at Hope Cove in the Type 13 height finders and Type 14 search radars and the T54 on top of the 200ft steel section tower at Hope Cove. That tower was transferred from the Verne Prison on Portland Bill. I closed Hope Cove down too before going to work in London.

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