Prior to the Second World War a 'Chain Home' radar station was established on the old aerodrome at Swingate. The radar station had two main complexes - the transmitting site and the receiving site. The transmitter site formerly had four towers supporting aerial arrays with steel platforms. The Swingate site was regularly shelled and bombed during the Second World War as it was visible from occupied France. After the war it was upgraded to a ROTOR site in the 1950s. In 1955 two of the four towers were taken down though one was replaced. In 2010 one of the original Second World War towers was removed.