Monument record MBC47810 - Radar Beacon for RAF Halton, Buckland

A probable radio beacon of World War II date is visible on historic aerial photographs as structures and was mapped as part of the Aylesbury Vale Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18604). Located in the parish of Buckland, approximately 800m west of St Mary’s Church, Drayton Beauchamp, and centred at SP 89422 12227. This beacon is visible as a tall structure, with a long shadow, on aerial photographs from 1944 and sits inside what appears to be a subrectangular fenced enclosure measuring 11x12m. A small subrectangular structure, with a clear shadow, is also visible on the former trackway/field boundary, since removed to create a much larger field, but the photograph is not clear enough to confirm. The structure may be the control building for the beacon or it may be an agricultural building. A photograph dating from August 1945 shows no sign of the structures making it probable that they were temporary and had been dismantled at the end of the war in June 1945. It is likely that this beacon worked with another to the south east (MBC47809) to make landing at RAF Halton easier in poor light. (1-2)