OTH and RAF Bempton

[paulilf]

I live quite close to the old RAF Bempton Base and would like to know if any of you remember it ever being associated with Over the horizon radar. It was used at one point as an experimental radar station for the code named ‘Winkle’ High Speed Passive Radar Array. And there is talk of it once being used for OTH testing of some kind. On its outermost point looking out to sea there are 18 concrete pillars between 6 and 10 feet tall In the shape of a [ Y ] Seven to the right seven to the left and four at the back. Could anyone explain what the purpose of these would have been. The site has now been sealed off due to the dangerous state that it is in below ground.
Regards Paul

[dctyke]

Might be of use to you.

RAF Bempton, Centrimetric Early Warning Station, Yorkshire | TheTimeChamber (http://thetimechamber.co.uk/beta/sites/military/rotor-radar-stations/raf-bempton-centrimetric-early-warning-station-yorkshire)

Walk my dogs nearby regularly.

[Courtney Mil]

Do they glow in the dark?

[AnglianAV8R]

RSG: Sites: 'RAF Bempton' ROTOR 'R3' GCI radar station (http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/b/bempton/)

[paulilf]

Well thank you for the replies, I have spent quite a bit of time around the location myself. I will take a look at the links thank you. The base has all sorts of stories attached to it and it would be good to read of any ones past involvement with the base.

[diginagain]

ISTR reading in several articles mention of a 'Darkie' or 'Darky' homing beacon situated in or around the Flamborough Head area. Could it be connected?

[Warmtoast]

DARKY was a WW2 emergency radio that enabled contact with airfields when an aircraft's main radios were damaged or out of action.

The 'Darky' Procedure
This was an ingenious procedure that allowed a pilot of an aircraft in distress, whose radio operator may have been killed or injured, to talk directly to Flying Control at the nearest airfield. It operated by H/F R/T on a fixed frequency of 6440 Khz and transmitter powers were deliberately low to reduce range to around ten miles. For example, a pilot requiring assistance would transmit 'Hello Darky, Hello Darky, Hello Darky, this is Koska Freddy, Koska Freddy, over'. If Jurby Flying Control heard the call they would reply 'Hello Koska Freddy, this is Jurby, this is Jurby, over' Once two way communications were established assistance could be offered to home the aircraft to the visual circuit for landing.
From here:
Ronaldsway Air Traffic Control in the 1940s (http://www.island-images.co.uk/ATC/zRon1940s/z1940s.html)

[paulilf]

Once again thank you for the replies, please understand that I am not from an aviation back ground so my replies may not come across in the way they should at times. I am interested in the above reply because of a post I placed on here a few months ago about Tornado ZA610 that crashed into the sea in 1985. In the accident summaries for the Tornado crash 16 miles off Flambrough head it says that another Buccaneer crew advised ZA610 to try an alternative contact frequency. I wonder what that alternative frequency would have been. I realise RAF Bempton was not operational in 1985.
Regards Paul