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Anybody work at Magdelana radar?
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 3:01 am
by boing
Always thought it was such a fine name for a radar station.
I assume the radar station, which we were told to address as Magdelana, was on Malta because we were in that area. I was always surprised that, bearing in mind our position, Magdelana always appeared to have been watching us for a time before we checked in so it appeared that the radar had excellent range. Can anybody give a little more information on the radar and its location?
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Re: Anybody work at Magdelana radar?
Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 12:11 pm
by Mrs Ex-Ascot
All I can gather from Google is that it was a RAF base off Dingley Cliffs on the north of Malta and was certainly of WWII origin. Maybe its one for the retired members page in the next GATCO Transmit mag. Will try to persue the subject further
Re: Anybody work at Magdelana radar?
Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 3:06 pm
by handsfree
Boing, I found this site on the web. It may be of interest to you.
http://www.warhistoryfans.com/raf-radar ... 76412.html
Re: Anybody work at Magdelana radar?
Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 1:42 am
by boing
Thank you both for commenting. I have been referring to the unit as Magdelana radar whereas it may be that the correct name is Madalena. This may be why my searches found nothing.
We talked to Madalena radar when arriving into Malta from the east and possibly on other occasions. This was around late 69 and early 70 so the callsign had a venerable history even then. It may be that the Madalena callsign was not the general callsign for the radar unit but it was allocated to our flights as a special contact code. What I do remember is that when we contacted the radar they were expecting us and often replied immediately with "radar contact' so they had apparently been watching us for a time. Always excellent service.
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