RAF Air Defence Radar Museum, Norfolk

Hidden in the tranquil Norfolk Broads lies the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum, housed in the original Grade II-listed 1942 operations block at RAF Neatishead.

Special exhibits include the authentic World War II Fighter Control Room, the tense Cold War Operations Room, a Jaguar cockpit simulator, Tornado control console, original radar consoles from Chain Home and ROTOR systems, interactive displays on Battle of Britain and Soviet-era air defence, plus over twenty themed exhibition rooms.

The museum’s standout special exhibits include:

• World War II Fighter Control Room: step onto the original 1942 plotting floor with its rotating map table, voice-procedure telephones and Chain Home radar consoles. Four times a day a live talk reveals how controllers guided Spitfires to intercept Luftwaffe raids.
• Cold War Operations Room: experience the tension of 1950s ROTOR consoles, nuclear reporting cell and Bloodhound missile indicators as you sit at the very desks where Soviet bomber alerts lit up the scopes.
• Jaguar Cockpit Simulator: clamber into an authentic cockpit module, grasp the stick and throttle, and lock onto virtual targets displayed on dual screens for a pilot’s-eye view of air defence operations.
• Tornado Control Console: inspect the real avionics panel used in electronic-warfare Tornados, complete with pulse-Doppler radar knobs and counter-jamming switches.
• Radar Technology Gallery: trace radar’s evolution from Chain Home transmitter valves and Decca Jupiter receivers to interactive calibration zones and our Speedwatch radar exhibit, linking analogue origins to today’s digital mapping systems

Photo credit: Mike McBey