dunnet

Dunnet Head Outdoor Activities,
Brough, Caithness, KW14 8YE
Tel: 01847 851774
Email: [email protected]

Walking, Fishing, Wildlife & Bird Watching

at the most northerly point of the UK mainland!

In 1939 a scheme was proposed by Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville, Director of Anti-Submarine Weapons and Devices, to set up radar stations to cover the Fair Isle Channel against U-boats passing through the channel to or from the Atlantic. In the spring of 1940 this scheme was extended to the north of Shetland and to the Pentland Firth. The six stations, known as Admiralty Experimental Stations, in this scheme were located at Sumburgh, Fair Isle (two stations), Saxavord, South Ronaldsay and Dunnet Head and were operated by the Royal Navy.

Dunnet Head, Admiralty Experimental Station No. 6, was the last to be constructed, work beginning in the summer of 1940 on high ground just to the south of the lighthouse. Like the others, Dunnet Head was a Coast Defence U-boat (C.D.U.) station, the naval version of the R.A.F.’s Chain Home Low (C.H.L.) radar which formed part of the early warning network round the coasts of Britain. The C.D.U. radar was able to track shipping and surfaced submarines to a distance of a few miles and could also detect aircraft at ranges of 100 miles or more, depending on the height of the aircraft. When erected, the station at Dunnet Head consisted of two separate huts, one for the transmitter and one for the receiver, with the aerial arrays mounted on the roof of each hut. The aerial arrays were of the ‘bedstead’ type, so called because of their resemblance to mattresses. These aerial arrays were turned by hand, using upturned bicycle frames, with a chain running from the bike up through the roof to the aerial frame above. Following several months of construction work, A.E.S. 6 at Dunnet Head became operational in December 1940.

With developments in radar technology it eventually became possible to transmit and receive using a single aerial array and this method of operation was carried out at Dunnet Head from May 1942. However, further improvements continued and a move into a single brick building with a single aerial array on a gantry and power-turned aerial took place in December 1942.

The naval chapter in the story of Dunnet Head came to an end in October 1943 when the station was transferred to the Royal Air Force, being operated by them until the station closed down.

During its operational lifetime, Dunnet Head plotted a number of enemy aircraft in the Orkney area as well as those over South Shetland and the Fair Isle passage, the latter generally meteorological reconnaissance aircraft flying out into the North Atlantic. In addition, tracks of some 35,000 friendly aircraft were plotted by the station during the three years it was operated by the Royal Navy. In that same period, the following is a list of some of the distinguished visitors to the station: