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Photos from 2003 before the guard house building was badly damaged by fire.
The mound behind the house holds a two storey ROTOR R2 bunker built in 1951, and destroyed by fire in 1958. The underground areas reached through the red door in the floor are flooded and contaminated with asbestos.
Further info on ‘RAF Goldsborough’ (‘JEX’) R2 CHEL
Update Dec 2007 :
Some more photos showing the badly damaged guard house in late 2007
Update Feb 2009 :
Geoff Pallett has kindly provided me with a picture of the site taken in the early 60′s, he can be contacted directly at geoffrey.m3uxb@virgin.net, there is also much discussion of the site in the comments section.
Well disguised as a suburban house in the middle of nowhere…
Dear Sir/Madam.
There was a camp on the East Barnby road which took its name from RAF Goldsborough,which is dipicted as being on the Kettleness road, I know this as in 1960/1 I was billeted at the camp which is now run as a outdoor persuits base for children.
During that time I was a senior aircraftsman on 5131 Bomb Disposal and frequented the journey to clear ordinance off the Fylingdale moor so contractors could get on with safety, building what is now known as the balistic early warning station.I used to walk at weekends down to the pub at Kettleness and what a walk it was….I have a photograph of the Rotor Gear at that time errected on the bank at the rear of the building..if you dont have one I can furnish you with a copy. that is all for now I would be grateful for any further information on the site, my wife and I visit the area three times a year and call in to the old campt to see if anyone has left a message who were stationed there. happy times I am geoffrey Pallett. changed my name to powell for family reasons..thank you
geoffrey.m3uxb@virgin.net
Just to say I was Geoffrey Pallett SAC 4261739 ,5131 Bomb Disposal Squadron ,RAF, changed my name to Powell after I came out of RAF for family reasons, Geoff
Sir, Myself and my brother were well into hidden locations in teeside and this bunker was memorably mentioned in an archaeology magazine around 1999.
Before this date, the bunker was relatively open, no warning signs were erected in relation to asbestos and it was unmanned.
We arrived a week after the article was published and fences were erected, asbestos warning signs were present and more. I seem to remember the magazine not mentioning the radar station, instead concentrating on the intensely more interesting fact it would have been a nuclear bunker.
I was a radar mec. at Goldsborough in 1953-54 when it was brand new. The domestic site, from the air, looked like a holiday camp and it was like living in one. The name ‘bunker’ seems to have been given to the tech. sites of the c.m.s. stations now they are out of service. They were under ground for protection against air attacks. There was only 1 rotor head,(which I learnt to leap into from the gantry while it rotated at 6 rpm).The elevation heads were at Bempton where I was moved to in 54, sadly after just meeting a lovely girl from Whitby. I wonder what happened to her. We used to hold dances in the mess, bringing girls up from Whitby in the R.A.F. trucks. There were only about 60 of us on camp but joined in the local football and table tennis leagues. The pitch on camp did not get finished and we played every game away, same with TT. I don’t remember ever losing. I do remember a 5-2 result on Whitby Town’s ground and our best win 14-2. I used to train, running up and down the cliffs at Kettleness between and into the two tunnels, surely this railway should have been preserved. I also remember a defence exercise. I was put in charge of radio communications at transmitters (just visable on the map north of the crossroads, the receivers were south of the crossroads). After nearly 4 hrs, with 1 minute to go and no enemy on the horizon I phoned this message to receivers “What a bloody waste of time, run the gear down, I’ll see you in the mess”. No sooner was this done, than the enemy appeared. In my defence I argued that the Russians would not attack with only 1 minute to go. I live in Australia now but would love to see a photograph of that radar head and hear from people of those days.
Hi, I am the Chair/Sec of the RAF Bomb Disposal Association RAFBDA, I am doing some reasearch on the task of BD at RAF Goldsborough. I have had a chappie call me who was om the BD Flt by the name of Harry Ramsay under a Flt Lt Toty.Noew I have his name in my records but alas nothing on the tasking at the Stn He wanted some info, so your name came up when I trawled the WEB, have you any info you could fill me in with to assist this chappie, who I may add has”memory problems” and is using it as a therapy to try any get his mind back “into gear”. Hope you can help me in my request.
Kindes Regards
Fred
Walked past this building a number of times. Thanks for letting us know exactly what it was for, I thought it was just a burnt out house.
Will be going past there tomorrow,stopped and looked on a number of trips
and always admired the building, shame its the state its in
I too was an SAC Armourer on the BD Sqdn on attatchment to RAF Goldsborough in 1961 through 1962 tasked with clearing Fylingdale moor for the new Early Warning radar Stn to be Built. For Freds’ info there where two Flts 6226/6217, our respective HQ flts were at RAF Colerne and RAF Newton. The Station was recomissioned from a mothballed state for our domestic purpose, with the necessary infrastructure/back-up facilities to enable our primary task on the moors which where pretty bleak in winter months, we even had to go out on rescue missions to assist snowed in drivers and accomodate them on camp one winter. The camp itself was rather unique. We had our own all ranks bar (The Virgin Inn) happy days. The task finished in 1962 and our Flt 6226 went back to the real World RAF at Lindholme our HQ being moved there and 6217 wet back to Newton, I believe the camp was decomissioned and the other Trades dispersed into the RAF in 1962. Our Flt C.O. was Flt Lt R.P. Mudge. Flt Lt Totty was the other.
I stayed at RAF Goldsborough around 1977 but knew nothing of its history. I was a young man still of school age. The guard house was being let out at that time to school groups etc for outdoor pursuits. When i first arrived at this place i presumed it was a pretty normal house. The place did have steel shutters over the doors and windows which seemed weird at the time. After a few days staying there i became suspicious about a new looking wall in a coal celler that had been breeze blocked off. Being young and nosey i managed to gain an entry into what i now know to be a long tunnel to the bunker. At that time i remember a small room to my left this may have been used as a small armoury due to the security put in place. I probably went as far as the internal blast doors and gave up. In 1977 the part i went in was not flooded or show any real sighns of fire damage on the concrete walls. I presume the fire that has been there in 1958 was in the bunker beyond the blast doors. I can tell you i feel sorry for anyone who was stationed in the guard house it was really cold. The wind is very strong in that area and it would come through the roof straight onto the bunks. Due to this and some kind of mould growing on the beds we had to sleep in the warm room downstairs. Happy days lol.
I believe there was an article in CIH (2005???) with respect to the Goldsbrough ROTOR bunker.
If you want to see what the Underground part of the Goldsborough ROTOR station looked like here is an intact one used as a Museum to the Cold War
http://www.secretnuclearbunker.com/
Sub Brits entry on the site http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/g/goldsborough/
Look through some of these links for lots of underground pictures of various ‘ROTOR” stations.
It’s an Irony that they were obsolete before they were all finished (Why Goldsborough was abandoned after the fire.
Fast Jet Bombers made the old WW2 method of fighter and AA direction too slow.
Goldsborough was a Chain Home Low and Fighter Direction station in WW2, connected with the Chain Home station at Danby Beacon.
Dear Sir,
I like the up-dated site , Just great, Can you ask Mike Hodge to send me an e-mail / Get in touch My kind regards Geoffrey Powell, Formally Pallett.. THANK YOU…I HAVE SUBMITTED TO THIS SITE.. THANKS