Welcome to Barnton Bunker's FAQ Page!

The 1950's phase for Barnton was as a Sector Operations Centre for Rotor Radar. - 1951 to about 1957 (Including construction period the HQ only operated for about 2/3 years).

The staff compliment was about 100 to 150.

The purpose of the HQ was to create an 'overall' picture of the Radar coverage from all the Scottish Rotor Radar Stations. Each would call in their information to the HQ and the staff would plot a general picture of all/any aircraft movements in Scottish airspace. So the staff worked entirely on this receiving both telephone and teleprinter and radio messages, plotting the situation and issuing commands and instructions back to the Radar Station staff - In the event of an attack the HQ would plan an overall response. So staff were principally employed on communications/plotting/secretarial work/admin/liaison. There were of course in addition maintenance and engineering staff.

Operations wing - Admin wing - Support wing - Maintenance wing - Domestic wing - Personnel wing - Command structure.

There was no living in at any ROTOR site - Everyone was housed on a domestic camp (In the case of Edinburgh local barracks).

The Met Office staff provided current weather reports only they were not involved in plotting radiation. That was entirely the responsibility of the ROC who were based elsewhere but had 1 or 2 liaison officers at the Barnton site.

The BBC studio dates to the 1960's RSG period. There was no BBC studio during the Rotor Days. During the RSG years the BBC studio was to broadcast local alerts and warnings.

The Rotor HQ at Barnton closed simply due to the speed of Radar Development. Within 5 years or so Radars could 'see' much further so there was no need for stations every 30 miles or so around the coastline. The development of the jet engine meant that travel time was so fast that the reporting system simply could not catch up. So the number of radar stations was almost halved and the reporting and response authority was passed to each individual radar station. In the earlier phase spotting a potential 'enemy' air incursion could take up to 30mins from first sight to deployment of intercept. Once the reporting and deployment had been passed to the local Radar Site the whole process from spotting to deployment of intercept was reduced to about 10 minutes. So as a consequence the SOC's became redundant and were simply closed down.

Early 50's to closure - RAF Barnton Quarry Sector Operations Centre.

No there was no control room as such. Offices for Commanding officer and officers and staff - Communications rooms (Teleprinters - Telephone - Radio) - Telephone exchange and rack rooms - Converter Room - Battery Room - Engineering office - Plant Rooms - Domestic facilities - Canteen - Stand by set (Generator) House - Guardroom.