In mid-May 1935, Wilkins left the Radio Research Station with a small party, including Edward George Bowen, to start further research at Orford Ness, an isolated peninsula on the Suffolk coast of the North Sea. By June, they were detecting aircraft at a distance of , which was enough for scientists and engineers to stop all work on competing sound-based detection systems. By the end of the year, the range was up to , at which point, plans were made in December to set up five stations covering the approaches to London.