Bawdsey Radar Museum is located in the building that was home to the world’s first operational radar station. When it was built in the late 1930s there were four 360-foot lattice steel towers to support the aerials. These aerials were vital to the continuing operation of the Radar facilities at the site and it was important that they were maintained irrespective of weather, time of day and enemy operations. Usually, a team of riggers would be on-call to solve any problems but, as a last resort, all personnel at the station could be called upon to climb the masts and fix problems. There are many stories of radar operators, men and women climbing the masts, recalling their experiences, both good and challenging. Sadly the last of these towers was taken down in September 2000.
Over the last two years a small team from Bawdsey have been working with a group of apprentices and graduates from BT at Adastral Park to re-create the towers in Virtual Reality (VR). Using Oculus VR headsets, visitors are able to climb one of the towers and experience what it was like to work at the site during WWII. As mentioned, many of the Radar Operators, most of whom were members of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) were made to climb the towers when they first arrived on site in case repairs to the aerials were needed and the (male) technicians were not available.
The primary interactive feature is the tower ladder climb, designed to replicate the arduous job of the site’s engineers as they climb to the top of the 360ft towers. The towers had a number of platforms sited at various heights on the mast and, once there, users will be able to listen to different short audio clips from the site’s wartime operators explaining the different roles and experiences of those working at the Bawdsey site during the war.
Also included is a Spitfire fly-by animation to be seen from the top of the transmitter tower and a series of environmental sounds which vary according to the user’s position in the virtual world so to immerse them on another sensory level.
The main objective of the application is to both supplement the educational value of the museum’s exhibits, by allowing the user to experience the scale of the Bawdsey radar towers from the perspective of those entrusted with their maintenance and repair, and to provide an enjoyable experience that differentiates the museum for its visitors.
The application was first made available to members of the public at the Suffolk Show in May/June 2022 and was a huge success with queues of people of all ages wanting to experience history. The major problem that we encountered was trying to persuade people that there were others in the queue who wanted to ‘have a go’!
The formal launch of the application is 28 July and visitor will be able to participate on each Sunday during August and on other occasions – details can be found on our website www.bawdseyradar.org.uk