raf radar station dingli cliff malta 1940/44

hi, im trying to find any info or location of the above radar station on dingli cliff during the seige of malta as my late dad was a radar operator here in that period.
i am going back to malta in may and any help would be appreciated.
thanks.
bill

Hi Bill, you might find THIS (please click) story of interest though not answering your question. I hope people having served there or their children will see your post and react

hi copper, thanks for the reply, i have read the story in the bbc ww2. funnily enough he was also billeted at hal far airfield for a short time. my late dad was there for almost 4 years. any help from members is always appreciated.
thanks again.
bill.

Best would of course be to be able to meet some of the others that served there with your father at that time. Did you try getting in touch with the army and who supervised over that unit? Sometimes old platoons hold reunions etc.

hi copper, thanks again for the suggestion.
i have been in touch with 2 people on malta.
1 being the owner of the aviation museum at ta qali airfield, the other being the editor of the mag malta at war. they both suggest that i contact the owner of the restaurant on dingli cliff.
it may be that this restaurant actually stands on or near the fields that the radar station stood in.
i would reckon that most of my dads radar colleagues are no longer alive as my dad was almost 97 when he passed on a year and a half ago.
again many thanks for your time and effort and as im going to malta next month, hopefully ill find some answers then.
best regards.
bill.

Bill that must be a very exciting holiday for you. Malta itself is beautiful alone but with going on a 'mission' - it is even more exhilarating. I hope the restaurant owner will be able to provide you with answers (or direct you to who can).

Good luck and ... if at all possible, will you let us know afterwards?

Hi Bill.



As far as know from the word of mouth, the radar was on the same site as the present radar and definitely not near Bobbyland Restaurant. In fact on the present radar site there is a cave which used to house the diesel generator and possible the personnel during air attacks.



In fact the Dingli Radar during the II WW was one of the triangulation system which the British Forces used, the other two were located at Tas-Sig Fort, near Marsaxlokk and at Wardija, between Mosta and St Paul’s Bay. It was only late during the war, 1942-43 that the first rotating antenna radar was developed by the British Scientist after they discovered that the Germans had such a system, but the British version was more refined. In Malta they installed the first system of rotating antenna radar at ‘Tal-Giordan Lighthouse’ in Gozo. The lighthouse building is still present.



Going back to Dingli site, considering that the Triangulation radar system needed some area for the curtain type antennas, Bobbyland area is not practical as it is not level ground and it is more than 50ft below the present radar level. Along Dingli Cliffs only Madalena Chapel, located towards Siggiewi is higher than the present radar site. Therefore I tend to believe more that the present radar site area was the actual site. When I first served there in the RAF during the early 60’s, the exhaust of the generator was still fixed with the cave’s roof and protracting out by the side of the cliff. When I left my responsibilities of Dingli Radar Station the caves where still as I found them in the early 60’s, rarely opened and I am not sure that present staff has any keys for them.



The present radar site has two adjacent sites which were used for Communications Receivers and for TACAN. These two extensions which are about 200 mtrs away from present radar site were always the property of the British Forces, so it makes me more convinced that these sites together with the present site were the locations of the three masts used for Curtain Radars.



If you visit Dingli village and try to find somebody who remembers the war and always lived at Dingli, they might give you a more solid prove.



I was always told that the present site is the one which has always been used.



Half way between the present site and Bobbysland there is a Military Post which is known as the ‘turret’, which probable was used by the military as a look out post. But this cannot be the site of WWII radar as it needed more than one mast.



I hope I shed some useful information, although I have no documented proof.

About three years ago I wrote a series of articles on History of Radar in Malta on a local e-paper www.maltastar.com and the place I indicated for the Malta Trangulation Radar were Dingli Radar Site, Tas-Silg Fort and Wardija. Tas-Silg Fort is now being used as a dogs sanctuary.

I hope you will have a pleasant stay in Malta and the weather looks that it will be very favourable. In case you need some more information do contact me by email or on 79047718 while in Malta.



Regards

hi, bill here back from malta. i found where the dingli radar station sits on the cliffs.
i got the confirmation from two sources, one being the gentleman above major tony abela who i had the pleasure to meet on the sunday ,and the other being from the malta aviation museum where one guy actually had a picture in a blue folder of the radar station sitting on the cliff at dingli. i however did not get to meet the restaurant owner mr reno as he was at the hospital as his mother was very ill. he did want to come and meet me but i told him that his place was with his mother and i had already been to the cliff and saw for myself just where the radar system stood.
just to say if anyone has been to malta the old ww2 radar station stood where the present radar station nicknamed the golf ball now stands.
thanks to everyone who tried to help, it was greatly appreciated.
bill.

Bill C., thank you ever so much for letting us know. We also got to want to know about your father's station at Malta that time by your description of the situation.

Actually... I HAVE been to Malta (many, many years ago) - it's an island we took a tour around in a taxi and finished the whole tour within half a day (just to show how 'big' -or rather small- it is). I do not remember having seen the new radar station place though. However that doesn't matter as long as you have seen it all and now can relate more vividly to your dad's service those days