Fylingdales

Fylingdales is a British ballistic missile early warning system operated by the RAF and the US military on Fylingdales Moor[?] in North Yorkshire. The facility opened in 1962. Originally there were some complaints about this, but the three large, white, geodesic structures, colloquially known as the "golf balls", of the base became a local landmark, despite which the base entirely failed to appear on Ordnance Survey maps. When, in 1987, an upgrade of the site replaced the current buildings with a "pyramid" (or rather, a truncated tetrahedron), many more people protested at the loss of the balls.

Recently, Fylingdales has attracted controversy and CND protests at its inclusion in the US National Missile Defense plan, commonly known as Son of Star Wars.

Reference

• Fylingdales: Radar on the Moors (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2575759.stm), BBC Online, 14 December 2002