This Museum attempts to tell the story of RAF signals from the beginnings through to the present day. A museum’s displays will never be finished but it is hoped that visitors and signallers past, present and future will see something of the rich heritage upon which the Museum specialisation has been built. Whichever category our visitors fall into, we hope that they will find their visit both interesting and informative.

Signals have been an essential part of warfare since prehistoric tribes first discovered that collective violence offered a viable and generally more exciting alternative to poverty and starvation. In the early days, communication was limited to voiced signals supplemented by hunting horns, beacons and drums. Later on the development of writing permitted the exchange of more complex information, but the role of signals remained essentially the same, i.e. the communication of intelligence about the enemy and the dissemination of orders to troops.

The advent of the telegraph in the 19th century represented the most significant advance in signalling for over 4,000 years, but its dependence on fixed infrastructure limited its utility to strategic communication. However, the development of wireless offered the possibility of mobile communications suitable for use on the battlefield. Powered flight became a practical reality at about the same time and the two technologies, signals and aviation, were soon brought together over the bloody battlefields of the Western Front, and the story of RAF Signals began.

RAF signals is a very wide subject that ranges from the early wireless flights of the First World War, through training, radar, communications intelligence and electronic warfare, navigation and approach aids, telecommunications, direction finding, test equipment, calibration and signals security, to communications by satellite and beyond.

Many of the initial exhibits in this Museum came from the now defunct museum attached to No. 1 Radio School at RAF Locking. Other items have been either donated or loaned by the RAF Museum Reserve Collection, other RAF units and enthusiastic individuals.

The Museum’s collection has a few items from the very early years of radio, including a Sterling spark transmitter as used by WWI reconnaissance aircraft. There are also some transmitters and receivers that were the standard fit in RAF aircraft during the 1920s and 1930s.

World War II equipment is fairly well represented, although it is becoming increasingly difficult to find some items and this inevitably means that there are many gaps in what is shown. There are examples of transmitters and receivers, both ground based and airborne. There are early airborne radar equipments, early air navigational aids and several examples of telegraphic equipment such as a morse undulator and some teleprinters.

Post war radar is well represented, with a number of consoles and models of radar installations. Also included in the collection is some early test equipment and items such as a selection of radio valves and cathode ray tubes.

A “Y” Service room is depicted as it would have been during WWII, when the “Y” Service stations provided Bletchley Park (Station X) and other military organisations with code from German radio signals that helped the Allied Forces find out what the Germans were doing.

As various RAF Signals Schools played an important role in the training of Apprentices, Boy Entrants and other signals personnel, an adjacent display depicts aspects of Apprentice and Boy Entrant training.

As for the exhibits generally, other important items are still needed, as there are many gaps in the collection. Do you have anything of interest that you could offer to the Museum?

A Museum of this size cannot give more than a flavour of this rich heritage. If we have given only passing mention to a particular activity or unit or have omitted it altogether, it is probable that considerations of space or, occasionally, security, are the reason for the omission rather than an attempt to marginalise any particular strand of the story.

Finally, Signals is a very technical and often complex subject, but we have tried to make our small museum interesting to both the specialist and non-specialist alike, so there is a necessary element of compromise between technical detail and accessibility. We hope you will agree that we have got the balance about right. If you notice that something has been missed or something is wrong, then please let us know so that we can take corrective action.

For Further information or to offer memorabilia to the Museum, please contact:

Alf Fisher, Signals Museum, RAF Henlow, Beds, SG16 6DN

Tel: 01462 851515 Ext 7997. Email:  alf_fisher@tiscali.co.uk

Website: www.rafsignalsmuseum.org.uk