BBC The One Show, Friday 3 June, 1900 will include a 4:30 minute feature film showcasing the work of RAF Fylingdales 

The work of RAF Fylingdales in North Yorkshire gets a high profile national showcase tomorrow (Friday June 3) with a slot on BBC1’s One Show.

RAF Fylingdales in North Yorkshire has long been associated with 3 secret “golf balls” housing radars staring into space for early signs of ballistic missiles.  But they’ve been gone for years, replaced by a single radar array doing essentially the same job.

One Show presenter Phil Tufnell gets a behind-the-scenes tour of the facility as part of the show’s popular series “Glimpsed At Speed”.  As he travels around the country in his car he spots something interesting and investigates.

Phil meets the station commander, Wing Commander Martin ‘Sheepy’ Johnson, who details the facility’s history and current purpose, explaining the powerful, sophisticated radar system which can track objects up to 3,000 miles away.  Said Wg Cdr Johnson: ”Our mission is to provide an uninterrupted ballistic missile warning and space surveillance service.”

As part of its work, the station tracks tens of thousands of pieces of space debris, from spanners to discarded booster rockets, all of which travel at 16 miles per second.  Most debris is in the Lower Earth Orbit and tracking their path enables Fylingdales to safely predict future trajectories viz-a-viz satellites or the International Space Station (ISS), helping keep them safely deconflicted.  It has been known for a fleck of paint to hole a piece of toughened safety glass, so it’s vital work.

Space Surveillance Operators maintain a space catalogue of all they find while maintaining their primary focus – detection of missile threats.

The piece features fascinating archive pictures of the early days of the base when its radars were shrouded in the distinctive “golf balls”.  Phil interviews Leo Westhead (above) who was a civilian contractor with more than 40 years service at the base.

Said Phil: “I’ve driven past Fylingdales countless times and like everyone else have often wondered what really goes on in the odd-shaped building and wider station.  I’d always thought it was top secret stuff so we were delighted at the access the MOD and RAF gave us to explain the workings of the station.”