Vol 1. Issue No 5

Wartime News publishes this account by the late Sir Edward Fennessy as a tribute to his contribution to the development of radar. Sir Edward was a Member of CHiDE - the Centre of the History of Defence Electronics in which the Wartime Company still plays a pivotal role in the membership scheme and production of Transmission Lines.

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No.60 Group (Radar) Fighter Command

by the late Sir Edward Fennessy CBE

60 Group known to some of the Fighter Command flying types as “The Group that Flaps but seldom Flies” nevertheless played a major role throughout the War in giving crucial radar support to Fighter Command and later Bomber and Coastal Commands, together with the US 8th and 9th Bomber Commands in their many operations.

Upon the outbreak of the War the task of building and maintaining the expanding network of Chain Home stations was undertaken by a small civilian team of engineers from Bawdsey, located at Carlton Lodge, Leighton Buzzard, known as "Base Maintenance Headquarters" or BMHQ.

Why did we choose Leighton Buzzard as our base rather than follow our colleagues from Bawdsey to far distant Dundee when War broke out? Because it was the home of RAF Central, the hub of Royal Air Force communications. All telephone plotting lines from the CH stations not only went to Bentley Priory Filter Room but were duplicated to RAF Central. Here an emergency Filter Room and Operations Room would take over in the event of the destruction of Bentley Priory. So by basing BMHQ close to RAF Central we had first class telephone communications to all CH stations. We were also close by road to the vital South and South East Coast stations and only some forty minutes from Fighter Command with whom we needed close contact.

Throughout the winter of 1939 work went ahead at BMHQ in building and upgrading the CH stations and installing the new CHLs. Soon it was clear to the Air Ministry that to deal effectively with the dramatic growth in the radar system and to handle the thousands of men and women who were now joining the Royal Air Force for radar duties an RAF Group was needed. So, in early 1940, No 60 Group was formed by Fighter Command to take over from BMHQ and its small civilian staff.

Oxenden, a large Victorian mansion some two miles north of Leighton Buzzard became the HQ of the new group. Air Commodore Gregory assumed command, with Group Captain Reeve as SOA and Group Captain Colin Peter Brown as the SASO. They came with a small nucleus of regular officers, to be rapidly joined by an ever increasing number of RAFVR Technical Officers. Amongst them Wing Commander Philip Dorte and Wing Commander Ian Orr-Ewing and later Group Captain Proctor Wilson, all from the BBC, a fruitful source of many early Technical Officers.

As befitted a group that was to employ thousands of young women operating the Radar Stations, Squadron Officer The Baroness de T’Serclaes MM was appointed as the Senior WAAF Officer. She arrived wearing three rows of medal ribbons, gained on active service in the Great War. A quite remarkable woman who made her presence felt throughout the radar chain, from the ADC down to the most junior WAAF.

For a while the group was staffed by a mixture of service personnel and ex-BMHQ and Bawdsey civilians. Soon some of the latter departed to rejoin the Research Establishment, now at Swanage. Others, including myself, chose to stay and joined the RAFVR on the staff of the group.

By August 1940 under the able command of Air Commodore Gregory, 60 Group was well established, building, maintaining and operating with the ever-growing radar system. To ensure close contact with the stations the country was divided into Wing areas each with its own technical and administrative elements under a Wing Commander.

Thus when the Battle of Britain came, despite the very heavy Luftwaffe bombing attacks on the South Coast CH stations, the Group did not falter in its task of providing Fighter Command with the information its controllers and pilots needed to fight and win that crucial battle.

With the Battle of Britain won, the Group was to play a major role in the defeat of the German night bombing of our cities and arms factories. By late 1941 Air Commodore Gregory had handed over to Air Vice Marshall Aitkin, who was in turn to be succeeded by AVM Addison and later AVM Theak.

By 1942 the Group’s responsibility embraced the construction, maintenance and operation of the great complex of several hundred radar stations extending round the whole of the British Isles, and providing a defensive screen extending from sea level to thirty thousand feet. With this invaluable aid Fighter Command maintained its mastery of the skies while Coastal Command and the Royal Navy were greatly aided in the battle against the U-boat.

In 1942 while continuing with its ever increasing task of building and operating the radar defences of the British Isles, No 60 Group was now made responsible for planning, building and operating the ground stations for the new navigational and blind bombing aids GEE, OBOE, GH and Loran, servicing Bomber Command, Coastal Command, and the US Bomber Commands. Firstly in early 1942 the Eastern Gee Chain was built to provide accurate radar navigation as far as the Ruhr. This was soon followed by the Southern Gee Chain covering the English Channel and Northern France and later the South Western and Northern Chains completed the total coverage of the United Kingdom providing accurate navigational service for virtually all Allied aircraft operating from the UK. Soon to follow were the remarkable precision bombing aids Oboe and GH each to play such a major role in the Allied bombing offensive.

On the night of the invasion, Gee stations built in secret, and only switched on just before the invasion fleets sailed, provided navigation through the swept channels to the beaches of Normandy. While specially built Oboe stations marked German gun positions, covering the approach to the beaches, which Bomber Command eliminated in the early hours of June 6th.

In support of the invasion of Europe, 60 Group was called upon to build, equip and man a complete mobile Wing comprising Gee, Oboe and GH stations. No 72 Wing under the command of Group Captain Phillips landed its first units in France in July 1944. Based at first near Caen it rapidly deployed its mobile units providing navigational and blind bombing cover for the British and American airforces operating in support of the Allied Armies as they advanced through France and into Germany.

During the Ardennes offensive, Gee, Oboe and GH mobiles sited well forward east of Laroche very narrowly escaped capture by a German armoured detachment detailed by Field Marshal von Rundstedt for that specific task.

By the end of the war in Europe units of 72 Wing No 60 Group had penetrated deep into Germany. There were stations built and operated by the group as far afield as Iceland and North Africa while planning was well advanced and some stations built for a series of Gee chains from the UK to the Far East. Not bad mileage for the Group described somewhat dismissively in 1940 as “The Group that Flaps but seldom Flies”.

The value of No 60 Group to Fighter Command was well summarised by its C-in-C Air Marshal Robb in his victory message to the Group.

“Since its formation in early 1940, No 60 Group has been the eyes of Fighter Command, and it is of interest to record that nearly 5000 enemy aircraft were destroyed as a result of Radar information it supplied. I have no hesitation in saying that without No 60 Group and Radar, the Battle of Britain, even the war itself, could not have been won.”

At the same time Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris C-in-C Bomber Command paid his tribute.

“Now that something of the immense part that has been played by Radar in winning the war has been made public, it is possible to acknowledge that without the work of No 60 Group, Bomber Command could not have brought its task to a successful conclusion.”

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