Radar
Dominique and i journeyed to the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum at Neatished in rural Norfolk today. On arrival a rotating mobile radar greeted us and we were immediately enthralled.
So eager were we to get there that Dominique forgot her purse and even though i raided the car for change we couldn’t quite raise the entrance fee. The very kind gentleman on the entrance desk said it would be fine to send a cheque and promptly arranged a brief tour for us. The museum has a strap-line – its bigger than you think – which is very true and the time we had flew by and we need a return visit at some point.
We were led to Neatished from details contained in Dr David Clarke & Andy Roberts text on operation charlie:
http://www.uk-ufo.org/condign/histcharlie.htm
Although Operation Charlie is dated as 1947, it was the Coldwar Operations Room (in use between 1973 – 1993 i think) that had us completely enthralled. Not least on my part by the knowledge that my dad would have spoken to radar operatives there when he was stationed at near by RAF Coltishall. Working in the control tower he would have spoken to pilots that would have been pursuing ‘unidentified’ or perhaps ‘univited’ aircraft from Russia. We were in danger of becoming diverted from our primary UFO focus as neither of us asked any of the numerous room guides about Operation Charlie or possible sightings – we asked ourselves why. Was it from a fear of appearing foolish? We have repeatedly questioned our approach to this project, are we believers or skeptics and how might this influence the research that we undertake? We have tried as much as possible to keep a neutral position, respectful of peoples experiences and opinions which ever side they fall on.
During the the post tour debrief in a local pub we explored the very expansive potential of this project but also how we might develop and fine tune this methodology in the future.
The low lighting levels in the Operations room made for some interesting photos. Dominique also has a rather lovely image of the East Anglian Territory with Ghost Plain markings which i hope she will add.
Nicola Naismith
