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Raf neatishead is a remote radar head established in the Second World War.the site was very active during the Cold War,monitoring the south coast.and was a larger part of the NATO air defence strategy.the station was downgraded in 2006 and now operates several remote stations on the norfolk coast..there is a museum on the site as well.very few have visited the large R3 bunker,which we had unlimited acsess too.in 1966 a large fire broke out in this bunker.the stations fire crews could not cope with the fire so civilian firefighters were called in.three firefighters lost there lives in the blaze.being unfamiliar with were they where and in thick smoke sadly lost there lives.it took ten fire retainers three days to fill the bunker with water from a nearby village just to put the flames out.a serviceman was sentenced to seven years for starting the fire.the site was eventually a "special operations centre" and controlled response planes against a soviet attack,from airfields at coningsby,wattisham,coltishall and binbrook.they also were responsible for the victor tankers from marham and the Shackleton airborne early response aircraft from Lossiemouth.in the 1980's the airbase was designated "ground defence environment" and in place of fixed radar they started using counter jamming,and new mobile systems replaced the fixed radar.the bunker was totally refurbished,so is quite modern in standard.today the little military side of the site is concentrated on "uk air surveillance and control system" which is very important after the 9/11 attacks..the site was up for sale on eBay for an asking price of two and a half million.but did not sell.this place is a grim reminder of scarier days.the bunker was half lit and half dark and was left just as it was,minus a lot of the technical equipment.
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