RAF Air Defence Radar Museum

All activities are free and included with price of admission, tickets can be purchased on the day or pre-booked online here bit.ly/46hTZrm

photo, colour, a brown teddy bear wearing a pullover and a name badge stating 'Babs Bear' sitting holding a spoon in front of a poster advertising Funday Thursdays of family events at the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum.

Funday Thursdays continue next week with our popular Camouflage workshop with Clive, as well as our teddy bear trail, outdoor games, scavenger hunts, dressing up and Lego challenges, plus all of our regular flight sims, interactive games, open cockpits and volunteer talks.

photo, colour, a certificate awarding the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum the Tripadvisor Traveller's Choice Award 2025.

We're very proud to have earned the coveted Tripadvisor Traveller's Choice award for another year. It really means a lot to us to read so many wonderful reviews of our museum and for the repeated mentions of the care and dedication our volunteers demonstrate to engage visitors with our history.

Defiant crews of 141 Squadron, pictured in 1940. 📷 key.aero (Group of aircrew standing in front of a single-engine turret fighter)

BATTLE OF BRITAIN 85: 19th July 1940.
Intense aerial clashes took place around Dover, with ships and dockyard facilities damaged. Both the RAF and Luftwaffe lost several aircraft, but 9 Defiants of 141 Squadron, ‘bounced’ by Bf 109s near Folkestone, suffered worst.
📷 key.aero
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We've made some enquiries regarding P.O. Peacock so will hopefully find out his story shortly. Our WRAF veterans don't think it's a dig, more likely a prank (of which the RAF training course participants were well known for).

photo, black and white, the No.104 Fighter Controller course. Men and women of the Royal Air Force are seated for a group photo, one lady is holding a peacock on her lap, the peacock is labelled as having the military rank of Pilot Officer.

photo, black and white, a close up of the peacock sitting in the front row of military personnel

*record scratch* *freeze frame*

Yep, that's me. Pilot Officer P. Peacock.
You're probably wondering how I got here on the No.104 Fighter Controller Course at West Drayton in 1977.

photo, colour, a person holding a phone with the Bloomberg Connects digital guide to the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum. In the background is the cockpit of a Tornado F3.

We've been very pleased to see visitors using the new Bloomberg Connects free digital guide to discover and explore the museum.

If you haven't downloaded the app yet, please do, and if you have used it we're interested in hearing your thoughts below on what you enjoyed and what we can improve.

Photo, black and white, actor Jack Hawkins in the 1952 film Angels One Five. The man stands in front of a wall mounted map of Europe, a ceiling light hangs in the top left corner.

Some of you haven't watched Angels One Five, and to be honest it shows

An RAF Wartling tie. It is a royal blue with a gold crest sitting just below the knot. The crest is the Wartling Coat of Arms. It was donated to the museum by Mrs Crofts, whose late husband was one of the first radar controllers at Wartling.

We have a small new display about the WW2 Wartling Radar Station. The display is in our Sargent Gallery. The radar station also now features on our WW2 model railway. #Bexhill

We're pleased to launch our new digital guide to the museum on #BloombergConnects

This free app allows users to download a guide to the museum before you visit to enhance your experience and improve accessibility.

Find Bloomberg Connects on your app store and search RAF Air Defence Radar Museum.

photo, colour, type 86 radar, rapier missile system and type 95 radar at the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum. The three systems are all dark green in colour and places on concrete squares surrounded by grass, under a blue sky.

The museum is open 10am-5pm, Tuesday-Saturday each week until 15th November 2025, entrance tickets can be purchased online through our website or in person and last 12 months from point of purchase for unlimited visits.

photo, colour, the Second World War room at the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum. The room is painted white, with map tables covered in painted grid squares, mannequins dressed as RAF aircraftswomen, radar consoles, model aircraft and photographs of wartime aircraft.

Discover the stories of the Royal Air Force in Norfolk, climb into the cockpit of a Tornado fighter and test your skills in our fighter controller challenges.

photo, colour, the Cold War Operations Room at the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum. The room is full of glowing radar consoles, lots of illuminated buttons and information boards. Headsets for the operators have been placed on the closest console.

Are we the coolest museum in Norfolk?
It's going to be a hot weekend so great for our solar panels, but if you're looking to escape the heat you can step into our (genuinely cold) Cold War room!

A lot to be learned from nature!

photo, colour, of a green tiger beetle standing on a stick on a sandy soil. The beetle is green with cream spots, purple legs, purple joints that separate the body segments and large black eyes.

Continuing the theme of tigers, and a recent sighting at the museum, was this green tiger beetle - one of the fastest insects in the world and a mean predator at only 2cm long!

Most tiger moths are able to emit an ultrasonic 'click' once they detect a bat is searching for them, warning the bat that they contain something toxic or foul tasting. One North American species of tiger moth is even able to emit 4500 clicks per second to effectively 'jam' bat echolocation.

photo, colour, a garden tiger moth caterpillar crawls through green grass. The caterpillar is very hairy with a long black body and an orange head

Occasionally we see a tiger moth (like the cream spot tiger above) or more commonly it's 'woolly bear' caterpillar.
Tiger moths have an interesting association with radar, or rather sonar, as they are able to interfere with the echolocation of their main predator - bats.

photo, colour, a cream-spot tiger moth in a perspex pot standing on a light blue piece of wood. The moth is triangular in shape, with an orange tail and rear wings covered in black spots, the forewings are black with creamy-white spots.

It's #InsectWeek organised by the Royal Entomological Society as a celebration & recognition of these beautiful creatures so vital to the planet.
Being in the Norfolk Broads means we attract lots of different species of butterfly and dragonfly to our wildflower patch

"NORAD 35mm presentation slides," slide 40 of 41 [gallery]

And finally, despite speculation, there is no tunnel between us and the R3 bunker, nor is there a tunnel connecting the R3 to former RAF Coltishall.
There's a fair few ex-personnel who would have loved a tunnel to use rather than braving icy roads between the bases in winter!

The museum is still open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am-5pm, until November when we close for the winter, reopening next Easter. We operate as a CIO, with volunteer trustees, 70+ volunteers, a manager and assistant manager.

Photo, colour, exhibits at RAF Air Defence Radar Museum including Rapier missiles and T95 radar, white dome of operational RAF radar in the background.

The former RAF Neatishead is split between us, the Ministry of Defence (big white dome), Andrew Elden Designs and the Academy of Robotics.
AoR own the R30 underground bunker, the Type 84 radar (a national monument) and assorted buildings including the R12 building which used to house a Type 85.

The museum gratefully received a legacy many years ago, as well as fundraising efforts by the then manager, volunteers and Friends of the museum, which enabled the purchase of the land and R30.

The museum shares an entrance with the Academy of Robotics, but we are an independent museum set in and around the original, and only, R30 Operations building (which we own and is a grade 2* listed building).

We've seen a fair bit of media coverage of our neighbour over the last couple of weeks, but we've also had a few questions about the museum, so for clarity...🧵

YouTube video by RAF ADRM Manager Cold War Week - Vince Taylor

Our next episode for #ColdWarWeek features museum volunteer Vince Taylor talking about his time at RAF Neatishead in the 1970s, Fylingdales and Germany.

youtu.be/2ARtc2UGQKM

#history #coldwar

Yes please!

YouTube video by RAF ADRM Manager Cold War Week - John Baker

We've been hosting Q&A sessions for #ColdWarWeek with some of our volunteers who served in the RAF during the Cold War. Not to worry if you missed any as we've recorded them to listen back to on our Youtube channel, with the first conversation with John Baker available here. youtu.be/UooJnomD1ck

Photo, colour, the logo of Ride to the Baltic 2025 showing a motorbike and the route the ride will take from the UK across Europe to Germany

Remembering #VEDay, Andy Stewart has embarked on a 2k mile trip to raise funds for the RAF Association & trace the route of an RAF mobile radar unit that travelled from Gold Beach in Normandy 1944 to the Baltic coast in May 1945.

Read, support and donate here:
www.facebook.com/profile.php?...

A record from a military diary announcing the war is over and how the troops were celebrating with whisky and champagne while listening to the King and Churchill announce the end of the war in Europe

Many RAF personnel were abroad in France, Netherlands and Germany with the 2nd Tactical Air Force, whilst some members of the mobile radar units, such as AMES 117, were as far east as Czechoslovakia.
#VEDay