RAF Stoke Hammond
RAF Stoke Hammond was a radio receiver station, originally built as part of the technical infrastructure for the Government Code & Cypher School's code-breaking centre, Bletchley Park.
In 1942 the war in the Far East was not going well for the Allies. The Japanese had taken Hong Kong, the Philippines and Singapore and our forces were in retreat.
The need to enhance long-range communications links was recognised and the decision taken to create a network of radio stations in the UK and overseas.
Three stations were built in the UK - RAF Leighton Buzzard (the HQ, now RAF Stanbridge), RAF Dagnall (the transmitting station, near Ivinghoe) and RAF Stoke Hammond (receiving station, Dorcas Lane).
RAF Stoke Hammond had a single hut and a series of 90 foot (27.5m) high wooden aerial masts (right). The hut contained advanced equipment which enabled the receipt of high-speed Morse code traffic. The messages were all destined for Bletchley Park and were forwarded on by landline to the code-breakers working there.
The station would have operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The RAF and WAAF personnel who manned it were billeted elsewhere so had to be transported in by road.
RAF Stoke Hammond continued to operate after the end of World War 2 as a receiving station, part of the global communications network commanded from RAF Stanbridge. It finally closed in 1970.
In 2011, the hut (now known as "The Old RAF Building") still stands though it has now been extended and is part of a complex of buildings used for various automotive businesses. The land where the aerials once stood proud has reverted to farmland and is used for a mix of crops and grazing.
In July 2011 local residents learned of a planning application to erect five 125 metre (400 feet) high wind turbines on the slope down from Dorcas Lane towards the village of Stoke Hammond. The campaign group, Stop Dorcas Lane Turbines (www.facebook.com/sdlturbines) has been formed to fight this proposal.
