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Old 12th Feb 2012, 15:19
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Gordon Dennison
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Cambridgeshire
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Devil 424 Airfield Radar

I was responsible for installing the LBA ACR430, which replaced the 424.
The 424 was sold to Brough, purchase negotiated between the then LBA Airport Commandant, Geoffrey Sellers and Derek Whithead of Brough. Derek used to fly across in a non-radio Blackburn B2 tail-dragger. After landing on the runway, he would get out, put his arm round the tail and walk across to the apron pulling the aircraft ! Derek was a great character, who had undertaken a vast amount of military fast jet test flying. He later joined CAA as an Aerodrome Inspector based at the then CAA HQ at Kingsway London.

When the ACR 430 was purchased, I was checked out by Plessey and then rated by CAA. I was then responsible for checking out the remaining ATCOs before the CAA Inspector came across to do their ratings.

Although the ACR 430 had several technical advantages over the 424, the latter produced a much sharper return and the narrow beam width enabled proficient operators to ( roughly ) monitor aircraft height. The 424 was much preferred for superior precision during radar talk-downs. There was, of course, no ILS at LBA at the time.

The 424 was not the first aerodrame radar at LBA. It was preceded by one that I cannot unfortunately remember the name of. It was a very imprecise piece of equipment, but was used for talk-downs. In those days, Air Traffic Control was located in a sort of diy glasshouse on top of the old ex-RAF Officers Mess. The radar was mounted on the roof with a sort of periscope suspended from the ceiling in the centre of the visual control room. Luckily, I did not need to validate on the equipment as it was withdrawn by CAA.
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