Site of Cold War VHF fixer station at Wimbish (EHER 46731)

Now destroyed. The site of Debden Very High Frequency (VHF) Fixer Station. This was one of a network of 57 stations established in England by the Royal Air Force. It was built by 1951 as part of the Rotor programme to modernise the United Kingdom's radar defences. The station operated under the command of Eastern Sector as part of Fixer Organisation One and provided directional finding equipment, enabling fighter aircraft crews to receive positional data by transmitting a signal. By 1988 the station had been dismantled and the site given over to agricultural use.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: A VHF (very high frequency) direction finding fixer network of seventy-nine stations was established across the UK established by the Royal Air Force (57 of which were in England). They were built in the early 1950s as part of the Rotor programme to modernise the United Kingdom's radar defences. The stations were divided into thirteen Fixer Organisations and provided directional finding equipment, enabling fighter aircraft crews to receive positional data by transmitting a signal. The seven on the east coast were operational, four in the west were on standby and the other two were held in reserve. The structures themselves are a mixture of refurbished wartime sites and new buildings both relatively insubstantial. <1> <2> The VHF Fixer at Debden was located at TL 558 369. It was operational by 1951 and as of that date is listed as being operational for the foreseeable future. The stations in Fixer Organisation One of Eastern Sector included Cockthorpe (TF 975 418), Hemsby (TG 490 160), Leiston (TM 458 617), Debden, Halstead (SK 773 043), Lutton (TF 464 245) and Winchendon (SP 738 132). List and distribution map. Debden was part of the Eastern Sector and Wix was part of the Metropolitan Sector. <2> It is not known what the building at Debden was/is like or if it still exists. It is likely to be part of the water tower complex of buildings. NGR approximate. Aerial photography from 1988 shows that the station had been dismantled and the site given over to agricultural use. <3>