Blog

In 2021, Dr Michael Mulvihill and field recordist David de la Haye captured the sounds of RAF Fylingdales. Field recordings taken around the perimeter fence, capturing radar interference from the Solid State Phase Array Radar (SSPAR) as it tracks thousands of objects in Low Earth Orbit, set against sounds of summer from across the moorland.

RAF Fylingdales opening ceremony took place on 17 September 1963, with both United States Airforce and Royal Airforce command making the inaugural phone call to Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Colorado. This moment made RAF Fylingdales the third and final Ballistic Missile Early Warning Station operational and completed the BMEWS project.

Fylingdales Archive only holds one photograph of Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) Site II, Clear, Alaska. Fully operational from 1962 until 1987, in this one aerial view of Clear you can see the BMEWS site in the landscape.

In 1986 the US and UK governments announced the upgrade of the BMEWS radar. Unlike the BMEWS project, the new radar was not built or designed by Radio Corporation of America (RCA), instead built, and designed by US defence contractor Raytheon Missile and Defence based in Tucson, Arizona.

Moorestown, N.J was home to Radio Corporation of America (RCA), Missile and Surface Radar Division. From here the Ballistic Missile Early Warning Station radar was developed, producing BMEWS Sites I, III and III.

Greenland was the location of BMEWS Site I Thule. From 1961 to 1987 over 1,000 RCA employees lived and worked on the site. Most of were personnel of RCA Service Company, which operated (BMEWS). Others were employees of RCA Major Defence Systems Division, which managed the construction of the base, as well as Site II, Clear, Alaska.