RAF WW2 AMES Units

[bill247]

thanks dee, the air historical have given me all the info they have and they unfortunatly do not have any maps. the iwm map section is closed as it is being refurbished and it will be next year before it is re-opened. as for the ORB's i thought i would have to re-hire a person to search the national archives for me.
thanks again dee for the info.
              bill

[bill247]

hi, bill from glasgow again, just wondering if anyone knows as to where in the national archives that the RAF No 504 ames ORB's would be. ie what file No.
     thanks.
         bill

[ScouseBoy]

Were all the Radar Stations  in the UK  referred to as AMES units?    What about Chain Home Stations?

Were any Radar stations  adjacent to or co-located with  W/T  interception stations "Y"   stations, or were they deliberately kept separate for  security and secrecy reasons?

Does anyone know about Dunnett Head  on the North coast of Scotland?

[greensteam]

Hi Guys, sorry for long interval since last post. real life intervenes.
I have made a bit of progress. The image I posted before of the sketch by my dad: I now know that it was near a place called El Karak. That sectional mast (I have some photos too now) was 200 ft high and the unit was almost certainly an MRU.
My father was in Palestine and Libya on various AMES units. I have only recently clarified that the photos I have of various bits of equipment are AMES types 13 & 14.

The confusion arises because AMES can mean the type of equipment, as in AMES 13 and 14 which he also worked with and I have images for them as well; or AMES can refer to the actual place where one was set up, hence he was at AMES 141 and AMES171.

I have now found my dad's old letters to my mum which have helped me to tie his sketches and photos up to the right places and dates and cross match to the (Otherwise enigmatic) acronyms on his service record.

I have noticed that AMES 13 & 14 equipment types are not much written up and I have not found many images on the web or in books. But I m hoping to go to the IWM and Woolwich Aresenal to see what they have.

Bill - I am in Glasgow too!

Next question for the panel: this is clearly (well fuzzily) a picture of  ops desks of some radar, but does anyone know what sort?

[ScouseBoy]

I would guess the date to be about 1960.  Can you scan it again to improve the clarity, please?

[ScouseBoy]

greensteam.   can you give more details  about that last photo, please?          Was it being scrapped or being maintained when photo was taken. do you know?

[ScouseBoy]

One of the clues about date of manufacture   which I am using to date your last photo is the telephone handset  cord.        Trying to remember what date the coiled spring type of handset cords came into service,  perhaps middle of the 1960s  or even early 1960s,  what do you think?

If you are ever near a big city reference library,  ask them if they have Janes Military equipment catalogue circa 1965.

[greensteam]

Scouseboy,
Sadly this is the best image and was taken direct from the negative. I have tried several times to get a better image with no success.

It is most unlikely to be from the 1960s as this is part of the small collection of pictures taken by my father during his time in the RAF 1942-46. Just conceivably he might have had to return for retraining at some point up to 1952, when he was released from his post-warservice Reserve obligations and could therefore possibly have taken it then. But it was in amongst all the other images he took 1945-6, so I have no real reason to suppose it is anything later.

Greensteam

[Gooda]

My father in law Elijah Bithell (Arnold) was in the Middle East during WW2 and we have a photograph of him in a football team and on the ball is 401 AMES 1941 they have a football shirt of 4 squares on.