Air Raid (or possibly Flood?) warning sirens

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I recall my school had an old hand powered one in their drama department, I doubt it had any official use but it was a full size one and was bloody loud, it had a detachable handle that the staff kept in the office, naturally after lots of careful planning and the fact that the teachers left the door open we let it blow out the cobwebs… got suspended for 2 days for that one but my mate who did the majority of the cranking got 5 days

That was fun and got two days off school:)
 
what makes you think they are cold war? surely its more likely they were installed in WW2 and kept on to warn of nuclear strikes?

They probably were, but they would have been serviced and maintained for the Cold War role. Many were replaced sirens though, like the one in Hale for instance, that sits atop a modern steel pole yet the design hasn't changed. There were many hand operated syrens employed by the ROC during the Cold War too, evident by the number of empty boxes found in ROC posts.
 
Sorry to drag this thread back out but I just came across this on youtube:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wIJ1D96ArI&mode=related&search=[/ame]
 
When I was student at Rauceby, they still used the old RAF Rauceby air raid siren as a fire alarm, only time it "freaked" the patients out was when it went off at 3 am (and me living in the nurses home) Heard stories of people new to the area thinking it was the escape alarm and dragging there kids in for safety.

One point though, on my first day we were given instruction about the link to the civil defence early warning network. there was a direct link to the system until it was shut down, so I suppose it was the town's nuclear attack warning siren too
 
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If i'm at home at 1130 in the morning, I hear this sound as it is still used by the Dockyard (Devonport)
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This video shows the WWII sirens:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i1QAtET0ok&feature=related[/ame]

I always thought the WWII sirens were kept after the war and hooked up to the early warning system. But they definintely pre-date the Cold War.

A friend of mine has got one. It runs on three-phase so he couldn't just plug it in at home. So, when he did an electrical course and discovered the local college had three-phase, he (or rather him and a couple of mates) lugged it down there. His course teacher thought it would be rather fun to run it up...

Big mistake. :)

All the best,
Simon
 
I always thought the WWII siren definintely peyre-date the Cold War.

A friend of mine has got one. It runs on three-phase so he couldn't just plug it in at home. So, when he did an electrical course and discovered the local college had three-phase, he (or rather him and a couple of mates) lugged it down there. His course teacher thought it would be rather fun to run it up...

Big mistake. :)

All the best,
Simon

That I would have liked to see, I bet their expressions were a picture :cool:

I recall that our switch board had one of these located next to the manual alarm control
It provided the link to the network. Have a look here for more info
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/features/cold_war_early_warning_system/index.html
I think it was disconnected around 1990 ish
 
I used to work in Wokingham, and every Monday at 10 in the morning we could hear the wailing as they tested the alarm at Broadmoor.

I've also heard it at Ashworth when I worked up in Merseyside.

It's one of the most eerie sounds you can hear and scares the willies out of me!
 
I lived in married quarters at Rauceby and this little bugger was 100yards outside of my bedroom window,




not what I'd want for an alarm clock, it was great in the summer when the midges used to get in the smoke detectors, used to go off several times a night:mad:
 
I believe there is a siren of some sort at Fletchers Paper Mill, to warn of chemical leaks I think, although I havent seen it personally, its on the roof somewhere I believe.
 
sirens at Greaves Hall, Banks, Lancashire 1970's

I lived in Banks in the 1970's and my mum was a nurse at Greaves Hall. The Sirens used to go off regularly (sounding like typical air-raid sirens) and she said it went off when a patient had escaped from the hospital. I Remember it vividly as it was a secure psychiatric hospital and the types of patients there were supposed to be, quote.. 'dangerous' - anyway, I can say my childhood was peppered with the sound of airraid sirens although i was born in the 70's............ chilling stuff though at the time :(
 
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on top of the water tower at RAF Newton
 
i live near a chemical works, an they have sirens for if theres a leak.

usually test it every year or so, but had a real "incident" a couple years back, had the locals moaning for weeks :lol:
 
It is, as stated earlier, more than likely to be from the Cold War period. The siren would have sounded by the local Carrier Control Point (CCP) located at a Police Station normally. The alert to sound the siren, the dreaded "Attack Warning RED" would have came from the UKWMO National Wartime HQ in Preston, via the Handel and WB 400/600/1400 Carrier network.

There was one on top of the old Police Station at the top of my road up until around 1993 and there is still one in Hale near Altrincham.

If the siren was in an area likly to flood the WB1400 could also remotly activate it to sound a flood warning which was diferent sound from an atack warning.
 
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