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Burifa Hill

Gee was a radio navigational aid developed to help Bomber Command navigate and find its targets over a blacked-out Germany at night. As such, the system consisted of several ground stations linked together which, by the transmission of carefully timed radio signals, produced a grid (hence the name: Gee for grid) of signals from which a navigator could determine the aircraft’s position. The main pulse would be sent by a Master Station and this would trigger transmissions from Slave Stations and the resulting grid made it possible to navigate very accurately to a range of about 300 miles.

A number of Gee chains were built in Britain, to cover various areas of Occupied Europe. One of these was the Northern Gee Chain of which Burifa Hill was the Master. There were Slave Stations at Scousburgh in Shetland, Windyhead Hill near Fraserburgh and Sango near Cape Wrath. There was also a Monitor Station and this too was at Burifa Hill. The Northern Gee Chain became operational in late 1942 and remained in use until March 1946.

The Northern Gee Chain was used to great effect in hundreds of operations throughout its operational lifetime. These included assisting with minelaying operations carried out in the North Sea and Baltic Sea during September and October 1943. One particular operation which is mentioned in the records of Burifa Hill is of interest. The Chain gave a "very exceptional performance" on the night of 3/4 September 1943 when its signals were used by a Bomber Command force of 316 Avro Lancasters in a raid on Berlin at a distance of 620 miles from Burifa Hill. This is a quite remarkable distance, being more than double the normal range for Gee reception.

For info on the radar installation during the 2^nd World War ibrown@ radararchive.freeserve.co.uk