WW1 and WW2 Defences - Suffolk and beyond

Looking at the posts in this thread, I don't seem to have posted an image of the anti-tank ditch as it was when I was doing the initial field work. Probably because it was in a dense forestry plantation! Drove past the ditch this Tue on a visit to Orfordness and noticed that the forestry plantation had been clear felled and the litter/stumps rowed up. Luckily the ditch does not seem to have been affected, and it is now much easier to visualize in the landscape than before. However the nearby anti-landing ditches did not fare so well in the forestry operations being much damaged, although it is still just about possible to trace them.  Above: Images of the anti-tank ditch used in this training exercise, July 2014. Last image shows lengths of what appear to be 2" scaffolding poles. Many traces of barbed wire were also found, although this just crumbled to dust when handled, the acidic sandy soil taking its toll.

Ok, not WW2, but the story of 'Cobra Mist' is surely worthy of a post? At the height of the Cold War, the Pentagon was in the process of developing a number of intelligence gathering systems, one of them being 'Cobra Mist'.  This was part of the 'Cobra' programme, a series of systems to monitor Russian and potentially Chinese missile tests.  'Cobra Mist' was an over-the-horizon  'backscatter'  radar designed to bounce a strong signal off the ionosphere to cover a range of between 575 miles to 2300 miles to the east. Its purpose was to monitor aircraft, detect missile and satellite launchings behind the 'Iron Curtain'. If successful, it was hoped an early warning of a nuclear attack could be increased from 5 minutes to 15 minutes. It was essentially a private project between the US and UK Governments,  largely excluding NATO. It was almost entirely funded by the US Government to the sum of anything between £35M - £55M. The construction si...