RAF Gailes was a ROTOR

ROTOR

ROTOR was a huge and elaborate air defence radar system built by the British Government in the early 1950s to counter possible attack by Soviet bombers...

 radar station in Ayrshire

Ayrshire

Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

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RAF Gailes was built on the site of the earlier RAF Fullarton

RAF Fullarton

RAF Fullarton was a Royal Air Force Ground Control Intercept station, situated in Ayrshire, Scotland.RAF Fullarton was established during World War II and initially consisted of mobile vans, but was later upgraded to a stage 2 station with operations blocks made out of brick...

 The buildings from the old GCI station were cleared by December 1950.

The station was short lived, becoming redundant when Killard Point (Northern Ireland) became operational, in September 1956. The Signals Unit at Gailes was disbanded and the station placed on care and maintenance.

In 1962, the station was taken over by civilian staff from Air Traffic Control at Prestwick Airport.

Gailes was finally closed in 1978 and the buildings demolished when the Radar station staff moved to Atlantic House in Prestwick

Prestwick

Prestwick is a town in South Ayrshire on the south-west coast of Scotland, about south-west of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr, the centre of which is about south...

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