Monument record TR 04 SW 613 - Ground Controlled Interception Station 04g

A Ground Controlled Interception station located at Willesborough (TR 032 432), called site 04G. Ground Controlled Interception (GCI) radar stations were developed by the Air Ministry from 1940 to detect, locate and track enemy aircraft and provide inland radar coverage of Britain. The stations worked in cooperation with local Fighter Sectors that had Airborne Interception (AI) radar fitted in it's aircraft to enable the crew to accurately home in on targets. Willesborough reported to Fighter Sectors in Hornchurch, Biggin Hill and Kenley, initially as a Mobile station and by 28-JAN-1943 an Intermediate GCI station. Mobile stations comprised transmitter and receiver aerial arrays mounted on trailers spaced no more than 220ft (67.1 metres) apart, with equipment stored and operations carried out from trucks. Intermediate GCI sites typically comprised a single aerial array mounted on a gantry and a 50ft by 18ft non-metallic operations hut. Other on site buildings included a small power house, huts for offices and recreation, and a guard hut for the site entrance. (1)
Aerial photography from 1961 shows that the station had been removed and the site given over to agricultural use. (2

<1> Dobinson, C., Operation Diver : England's Defence Against the Flying Bomb, June 1944-March 1945 (Monograph). SWX23707.

<2> Anderton, Michael J., 2000, Twentieth century military recording project: World War Two radar stations (Bibliographic reference). SWX22107.