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Radar Trailers


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Another interesting saga in the trailer theme is radar, whilst some are quite east to identify others can be a real headache and take a lot of searching especially when the original model has been updated and in some cases altered outwardly. So to start here is a 1944 photo of the radar AA No1 MK2 ® and a either a 15 or 24 kva towed generator

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Has it got all the original Equipment inside it Clive, or has it been converted to a Mobile living Quarters for shows! Mike.

 

It was converted in service to an Incident Control Point & fitted with many clipboards screwed to the walls. It is currently an amateur radio shack, hence the girder set in 4ft of concrete for the mast.

 

I suspect it contained racks of valve-operated equipment & in much need of the extractor fans that would have been fitted in the extension box at the front. I always thought this was 1950s, but the FVRDE design was only laid down in 1962.

 

Too bulky for me to tow, although it was dragged here by a Land Rover!

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This is a follow up on my pics. of the radar station on Stonebarrow. Post war Boscombe down operated a Radar station on the same area but well away from the cliff edge. These pictures are of the last remaining Radar site trailor, unused for 30 years. Showing what salt air will do, also a picture of a WD marked G.P.O. insulator picked up alongside the trailor.

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This is a follow up on my pics. of the radar station on Stonebarrow. Post war Boscombe down operated a Radar station on the same area but well away from the cliff edge. These pictures are of the last remaining Radar site trailor, unused for 30 years. Showing what salt air will do, also a picture of a WD marked G.P.O. insulator picked up alongside the trailor.

 

Former Ack Ack gunners from my era (1950 /4) will recognise this as the Canadian built MZPI or AA Radar No 4 Mk 6. Without a close look at the antenna array, it is difficult to say whether it is from the original production run manufactured by Research Enterprises Ltd or a later version with the NATO designation AN/MPS-501B manufactured by Canadian Arsenals Ltd.

 

If this radar was in service on the coast at Boscombe Down, I strongly suspect it was used as an Air/Sea watch radar,as were others located at AA practice camps around the coast. It was the standard TC Tactical Control radar deployed with home defence HAA Regts prior to the disbandoning of AA Command. A British version AA radar No 4 Mk 7 did go into production but I am not sure how many were deployed.

 

An example in mint condition is in the Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. Will try to post some photos.

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