Urcher Hill Radar Station operated in the later stages of World War Two in Crossmaglen, Co. Armagh. Reports suggest this was a Chain Home Low station.
Chain Home Low was a British early warning system operated by the Royal Air Force. The name refers to the system’s ability to detect planes below altitudes detected by Chain Home Radar. It could detect planes flying as low as 500 feet or 150 metres.
While known as Chain Home Low, the actual name was AMES Type 2. AMES stood for Air Ministry Experimental Station where the development of the system took place. Chain Home Low such as that used at Urcher Hill, Crossmaglen was a mobile radar system rather than a permanent fixture.
Ron Pearce, based in Co. Armagh with the Royal Air Force in 1945, manned the Urcher Hill Radar Station. He later married Julia Durkan from the town. She recorded much of the town and surrounding areas’ history in her memoirs.