The tallest asset in the RAF and relic of the Battle of Britain will be on the radar of One Show viewers tomorrow night (Thur 8 Dec) as Phil Tuffnell continues his tour around the UK looking at iconic RAF structures.
The 110m mast at RAF Stenigot was built as part of the country’s first long-range early warning radar system codenamed Chain Home, which helped Fighter Command accurately direct its fighters against the Luffwaffe during the Battle of Britain, the Blitz and at rest of WW2. It was the first integrated air defence system in the world and was the blueprint for the air defence of the UK which the RAF has seamlessly undertaken for more than 70 years since.
After the war most of the giant transmitter masts were dismantled but the one at Stenigot in Lincs still remains in RAF hands and is now a grade 2 listed structure – today it is used to train Service personnel in the art of working at height and erection of aerials, essential during modern rapid deployments especially to austere locations.
Said OC Flt Lt Ldr Simon Croson of the RAF’s Aerial Erector School, based at nearby RAF Digby: “People see the tower from a distance and assume it’s privately owned and a platform for dishes, but we’ve kept it because it makes an ideal facility to train our people in the skill of working at height on deployed operations as well as routine maintenance scenarios anywhere on the MOD estate involving height”.
One Show Presenter Phil Tuffnell was invited to test his head for heights and climb the tower during a training exercise with the team from the AES, and he said: “Like the radar array at Fylingdales, the Stenigot tower sticks out like a sore thumb, but no-one knows much about its use today, nor its history. I wouldn’t mind betting there are even some in the RAF who’ve never heard of it!
“I climbed to the top of the mast and I was terrified! I’ve got nothing but admiration for the lads who train on the tower and the RAF people who work at heights in war zones. And even though I made it to the top I can tell you I’m not cut out for this kind of work!”
“From a distance it does not look all that high, but because it’s a steel mast and open to the elements, it feels much higher once you are on it. I was very proud to make it to the top – only on the way down did the team tell me it’s designed to sway a few feet each way in the wind!”
On a clear day, from the top of the tower it’s possible to see Lincoln Cathedral, the North Sea and even the Humber Bridge as well as the lines of bomb craters left by the Luftwaffe trying to take down the wartime array.
Editor: Steve Willmot
Pictures:
Stenigot Mast.
One Show Presenter Phil Tuffnell was invited to test his head for heights and climb the tower.
Photography: Flt Lt Simon Croson RAF/MOD Crown Copyright 2011.
