RAF Warboys Direction Finding Station

Photos - 9.
Where - Warboys, Cambridgeshire.
Visited - November 2007.
Posted - 31 December 2007.
Categories - communications, military.

This may not be the largest location I've featured, but I still found it interesting. It's the old Direction Finding Station for the nearby RAF Warboys base (now mainly industrial units).

And that is about all I know about this location (heck, I'm not even sure that that's correct). If anyone has any further information about, please get in touch. Thanks!

External photos

The building is strange. It is located in the corner of a huge grassy compound surrounded by huge conifers. I'm not good with conversions, but the compound is about 200x200metres. You can view it on an aerial photo (the four circles are trees).

Inside

Entering through the huge blast doors is surprising - you expect to be in the building, but this is not so. There is a huge enclosed passageway surrounding the main building - presumably further protection against any bomb blasts.

Further inside

Once inside, there is very little to see. Any clues as to what this building was for have long gone. One room was obviously a plant room for boilers/air-con etc. One a store room of some sort. And one huge room. There were also some obligatory smashed up toilets (unphotoed).

Your Comments

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  1. Posted 27 January 2008, 13:50 From Alex

    Hi i went to visit this site and found it very interesting having done abit of research and working on an RAF site i think RAF Warboys was a bommer command site hence the Raf stations name (warboys) the bulding listed above is certainly to be a comms building as there are many deep channels in the building for power cables and comms cables which leave the building

  2. Posted 6 February 2008, 02:00 From Simon

    Alex; not too sure about RAF Warboys being named because of it being a bomber command station. I would think it is due to it's location near Warboys village. The village has the enviable history of being the location that the last recorded witches were hung after a trial in Huntingdon; that was in 1593 and the church of Warboys is 13th Century, therefore the name Warboys very much pre-dates the RAF.

  3. Posted 29 March 2008, 20:20 From dave ross

    We moved to warboys in 1978, at the time the control tower was still standing (now the industrial estate) . I seem to recall there was a presavation order on it but it got knocked down on the sly. The runways are still there.... just and the big target practice wall is still standing.It was used as a satellite base for raf wyton and they flew wellington bombers from there in ww2. if i am correct there is still an old corragated steel aircraft hanger on the ind estate and definetly some old concrete brick airfield buildings on the perimeter. as far as i know still pretty much un-vandalised

  4. Posted 3 August 2008, 23:20 From Ray Roberts

    • RAF Warboys Receiver Block photo thumbnail

    I was stationed here in about 1952/3. It was Warboys Transmitting Station attached to RAF Upwood. The transmitters serviced RAF Upwood and the surrounding American aerodromes. The pictures are very sad as it was highly bulled up at the time, everything was polished and gleaming. The area surrounded by trees was the Aerial Field. The trees seem to have replaced the high barbed wire topped fence that was around the field.

    Regards

    Ray Roberts

  5. Posted 4 August 2008, 17:00 From Ray Roberts

    • RAF Warboys Receiver Block photo thumbnail

    I submitted a comment yesterday, it is not showing today. Do you have any more pictures taken of the building.

    The receiver station was a hut in the middle of a field at Oldhurst (Surprisingly called "Oldhurst Receivers"!) on the way on or off duty I used to collect my mail addressed to me c/o Oldhurst PostOffice.

    Ray Roberts

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