THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com  created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

LEADING UP TO THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN OVER FINDON

 Copyright Valerie Martin 2001.

Part printed in Findon News in August 2000.

By the beginning of the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe had 2,800 aircraft stationed in France, Belgium, Holland and Norway. This force outnumbered the RAF four to one. However, we had an advantage — we were nearer our airfields. German fighters could only stay over England for about half an hour before flying back to their home bases.

Vital to the Royal Air Force planes defending Britain during those critical early days was a mysterious but highly visible set of giant rotating antennae at Poling, just south of the A27 road between Worthing and Arundel.  About forty such installations, shrouded in mystery, had been built around the south and east coasts of England and were to play a vital part in the defeat of the German Air Force.   Although their purpose was supposed to be of the topmost secrecy, rumour in Findon convinced many local residents that the pylons emitted a death ray that could "frizzle" any enemy aircraft and destroy it.  The considerable speculation continued.  In fact, the installation was one of Britain's first radar stations and when in 1940 the local people were let into the secret, the newspapers christened it "radio-location".

The truth is that during the Battle of Britain, Poling was one of the premier radar stations on the south coast plotting high flying enemy aircraft.   The Pylons of the Royal Air Force Station (three x 360 ft. and four x 240 ft.) literally dominated the lie of the Sussex downland immediately to the rear of the Technical Site.

On the 18th August 1940 it was heavily attacked by the German Air Force.   The Technical Site was badly damaged and the station was non-operational for a week until repairs could be carried out.   Some of the enemy bombs in the raid fell on the civilian population of Poling.   Signs of this attack were still visible until the 1950s on the Technical Site.

Poling Station was a vital link in the chain during the war and played a part in guarding our shores and reporting of enemy aircraft movements over the English Channel.   It had a staff of about one hundred officers (men and women).   Nearby woods were used as living accommodation for the personnel from Poling and Truleigh Hill further along the coast.   

(The Operation Block at Truleigh Hill was completely destroyed by fire in September 1946 and a court of enquiry was held). 

After hostilities had ceased, Poling was one of only a few of the stations kept operation and was not shut down until long after the war.

At the closing of the Radar Station at nearby Poling at the end of the Second World War, the Royal Air Force presented the church with an ensign which was hung in the south aisle.  Rather amazingly, the ensign disappeared in April 1982 (stolen).   The Royal Air Force subsequently repaired the loss.

A little memento of the days at Poling.   As Christmas 1942 approached, a W.A.A.F. based at nearby R.A.F. Poling Station sent this greetings card —

I received this just before Christmas 2001 from Kevin Morrison who works as a Library Assistant in the Collection Management section of Glasgow Caledonian University Library.

Kevin has been accumulating his Second World War Collection for over ten years, and it was agreed that the print-based materials should be transferred from his house (where it was taking up ever more room) to the Special Collections and Archives area at Glasgow Caledonian University in the autumn of 1999; the Collection remains in Kevin’s ownership, with GCUL acting as custodians.

The Morrison Collection deals with the war that ordinary people fought on the Home Front.   His main aim has been to record — through the use of contemporary books, pamphlets, letters, postcards, photographs, song sheets, journals, magazines, newspapers and ephemeral items — the experiences of ordinary people who lived in Germany during the Nazi dictatorship, who were involved in civil defence organisations, lived through the war years and its aftermath (as civilians and as soldiers).   

Continue if you would like to read about The Battle of Britain in the Findon Area — August 1940.

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THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — was launched by Valerie Martin in January 1999 and will grow to be a historical record of life in Findon, West Sussex, U.K.