The 4 sisters
- 29 April 2012 11:33169145on the 70,s programme on bbc2 last week covering 1973-74 was an opening shot of the white cliffs
with 4 masts on the cliffs
what year was the 4th mast removed ? or any photo please - 29 April 2012 15:06169214new one on me ron, i always thought there were only three.
- Terry Nunn
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,321
29 April 2012 15:20169215Yes. four together with platforms. The wire dipoles were suspended between these.
http://www.doversociety.org.uk/83-Swingate+Radar+Towers.html
In fact there were eight. The other four were shorter wooden towers.
Ed's the expert on this so I'll leave it to him.
TerryQuis custodiet ipsos custodes? - 30 April 2012 03:59169313Yes indeed, there were originally four steel transmitting towers each with an array of wire aerials strung between the huge platforms at the top of the masts and half way down. The aerial arrays on each tower were tuned to a specific frequency so that transmission could instantly be shifted to a different frequency if the Germans started jamming the one in use. There were four wooden towers over towards St Margarets supporting the receiving aerials. The photo below is one taken with a massive zoom lens by a German photographic unit over on the French coast.
We discussed the Chain Home radar station at some length a couple of years ago when the third mast was pulled down, see thread below. Without looking it up, would think the fourth mast was demolished some time in the fifties. The Chain Home system was old technology by the end of the war and the Swingate radar was replaced by a massive rotating scanner at St Margarets during the Cold War. The old towers have been used since the war by the MOD and for FM radio but the remaining two are living on borrowed time.
http://www.doverforum.com/letters/viewtopic.php?id=3974&p=1 - 30 April 2012 07:03169319As part of our heritege, the remaining two should be made safe and secure - from further decay and rusting and from being pulled down because the MOD don't want/have no need, for them.
Roger - 30 April 2012 19:08169555Wow! That was some lens Ed, I didn't realise there were eight in total, would I be right in saying that the radar station was bombed by stukas during the war with quite a few casualties many of them members of the womens units.
- 30 April 2012 20:47169624Thinking about my post number 5 on keeping the masts at all costs, reminded me that on my tour of the District, I was shown (I believe it was) the old Snowdown Collery that had become extremely run-down - as I guess you would expect in something under 30 years.
These old buildings may have represented the once proud Kent coal-mines, but now they represent decay and waste.
A new business-park was to be built there, providing much needed employment for the residents of Aylesham and the surrounding villages, but a couple of people thought it would be a great idea to have them listed.
English Heritage, for some reason, agreed and so the buildings there now stand as neglected wrecked buildings; no new business-park was built and the investment went elsewhere: no jobs, no new training, nothing, just an ideal that could never be realised.
We must be open minded and see what is on offer whenever something new comes along, we can't stick our heads in the past, but must respect the past, preserve where possible, but build for future generations.
Roger - 2 May 2012 11:26169886Re #6
Here is a photo of the telephoto lens, Barry. Used by a mobile propaganda unit of the German army. Taken from Len Deighton's book "Fighter" which has an extraordinary sequence of photos taken across the Dover Strait.
Many of the Chain Home radar stations were bombed by Stukas at the start of the Battle of Britain but they found it very difficult to accomplish as they needed to pull up at the end of the dive without colliding with the towers. Stukas were sitting ducks for Spitfires and Hurricanes and suffered horrendous losses before being withdrawn from the battle.
Luckily the Germans made a huge error in shifting the main focus of the bombing from the Fighter Command airfields and radar stations to commence the London Blitz.
The radar station and the heavy guns in the vicinity were shelled throughout the war by the heavy gun batteries over on the French coast, indeed the photo of the towers shows shells exploding in the centre of the picture. Fortunately the towers were never brought down as the blast from near misses would pass through the latticework.
Most of the Chain Home radar stations around the coast were predominantly staffed by WAAF's but I think they were withdrawn fairly early on from Swingate as it was in the front line and frequently under attack. Not sure what casualties they suffered. - 2 May 2012 11:47169887What a very interesting thread. That's what I love about the Forum - so many knowledgeable people on here. The Sisters have always fascinated me and I was sad when they were reduced to two.
- Terry Nunn
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,321
2 May 2012 12:04169897I must admit that I have a personal reason for the two towers to remain. As Ed says, the taller one is used for BBC FM radio. If they were to be moved to Hougham I would lose them. Because of where I live Classic FM is just a load of mush and Heart inaudible although that's no hardship.
I would have to listen to radio on the tv via Freeview or Freesat, portable radios would be useless. I can't get DAB at all.
TerryQuis custodiet ipsos custodes? - 2 May 2012 14:35169923
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet. - 2 May 2012 19:42170019Thank you very much for the photo of the mobile photographer, reminds me of the old Pathe newsreels with the cameraman on the roof of the news van
Interesting information about the losses the Stukas received, its amazing that the towers never received any direct hits taking into account the pounding they got from both bombs and shelling
- 13 May 2012 22:04172259Here is an image I was given by Mick Wright (who sadly I can't remember who he is!!) from 1972, showing the replacement mast being built. Only one of the two remaining ones is original.
Adjacent are the High Ace dishes which I think was a method of long distance communication by bouncing signals off of the troposphere !!
Been nice knowing you :) - Alec Sheldon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 18 Aug 2008
- Posts: 1,037
14 May 2012 23:21172423Paul, a Mick Wright ran the YMCA on Godwynne Road where I lodged when I first came to Dover in 1972.
