Goodrich

 

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RADAR MEMORIAL WINDOW

If you find yourself on the A40 halfway between Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye, seek out Goodrich Castle which the book describes as "a noble & impressive ruin" overlooking the Wye. Apparently the chapel is still in reasonable condition for it now contains the Radar Research Squadron Memorial Window, which commemorates the many RAF aircrews and civilian engineers who lost their lives in the development of radar between 1936 and 1976.

Radar Research Squadron appears to be a recent label to embrace all the many ad hoc formations that sprang up as required during the relevant forty years covering the 1939-1945 war and the long period known as "the cold war."

The window panels are laid out with

 

Badge of RAF

 

Leek & Rose

Magnetron anode block

Thistle & Shamrock

 

Coat-of-Arms of
Royal Signals & Radar Establishment

 

Badge of
Aeroplane & Armament
Experimental Establishment

Badge of
RAF Telecommunications Flying Unit

Badge of
Radar Research Flying Unit

Pictorial scene
of a
Chain Home station

RADAR RESEARCH SQUADRON
1936-1976
TO THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES

Pictorial scene
of a Halifax aircraft
above an H2S screen

 

 

 

The Chain Home radar stations were the first to give warning of aircraft approaching the east and south coasts of the UK in the late 1930's.

Halifax aircraft V9977, carrying the prototype H2S radar equipment using a magnetron, crashed near Goodrich on 7th June 1942 killing all on board. The cause seems to have been, a badly adjusted engine tappet breaking an inlet valve stem, which resulted in leakage of fuel mixture, and fire.

The RAF Telecommunications Flying Unit, formed in 1941, became the Radar Research Flying Unit in 1955, and was disbanded in 1977.

PLAQUE

The Memorial window, unveiled on the 7th June 1992, commemorates the many Service and civilian aircrews who lost their lives in radar development flying duties between 1936 and 1976.

The Radar Research Squadron's parent Establishment created between 1935 and 1939 the world's first radar managed defence system. This was fundamental to our victory in the Battle of Britain in 1940, and was one of the many British radar systems to transform air power and earn the nation's gratitude.

The unveiling marks the anniversary of the worst tragedy when a Halifax aircraft carrying the prototype of the first ever ground mapping radar bombing aid crashed near Goodrich Castle, killing all eleven on board. This navigational bombing aid made possible effective strategic air power, while its maritime derivative saved the British Isles from total isolation by submarines. Together both versions allowed the assembly of large military resources in Britain that enabled the Allies to liberate Europe in 1944/45.

They applied the frontier of scientificknowledge to the salvation of their country

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This page was last updated on 26th October, 2006