Radar DaysIt is now more than sixty years since radar began in Britain. In the intervening years, airborne radar has become one of the most important branches of civilian and military radar. In Radar Days, "the father of airborne radar," Dr. "Taffy" Bowen recounts his personal story of how the first airborne radars were built and brought into use in the Royal Air Force, and of the Tizard mission to the USA in 1940, of which he was a member. Written from the point of view of the individuals who worked at the laboratory bench, the story begins with the building of the first ground air-warning radar at Orfordness in June 1935. The book proceeds to describe how this equipment was miniaturized to make it suitable for use in aircraft and the lengthy, sometimes hazardous flight trials conducted before radar went into service with the RAF. The author also details the activities of the Tizard mission, which was instrumental in installing the first airborne radars in US aircraft. The greatest achievement of the mission was to pass on the secret of the resonant magnetron to the US only a few months after its invention at Birmingham University. This was the device that brought about a revolution in Allied radar, putting it far ahead of the corresponding German technology for the remainder of the war. |
Contents
The Beginning of Radar in Britain | 1 |
The Early Development of Airborne Radar | 30 |
Sea Search and Tales of D Flight | 47 |
AirInterception Trials in Battles and Blenheims | 65 |
The Outbreak of War and the Move from Bawdsey | 83 |
Air to Surface Vessel Radar Against Ships and Submarines | 98 |
Introduction of AirInterception Radar into Service | 117 |
The Move from St Athan to Swanage | 135 |
The Tizard Mission to the USA and Canada | 150 |
The Resonant Magnetron and the Bell Laboratory | 164 |
Formation of the Radiation Laboratory | 171 |
Postscript | 196 |
Appendices | 209 |
List of Abbreviations | 218 |
| 220 | |
The Transition from Metre to Centimetre Waves | 141 |
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Common terms and phrases
air defence Air Force Air Ministry air-interception radar air-warning airborne group airborne radar Alfred Loomis already Anson antenna Army arrived ASV Mark ASV radar attack Battle of Britain Bawdsey Beaufighter became Blenheims bomb bomber British cathode-ray tube centimetre centimetre waves centimetre-wave coast Coastal Command Cockcroft crew demonstration Dundee echoes enemy aircraft engine equipment feet field Fighter Command figure flight flying gave German submarines ground hangar installation Karl Compton Keith Wood later London magnetron Martlesham Heath maximum range Mc/s metres Microwave Committee miles Naval Navy NDRC night fighter night interception Officer operating Orfordness Perth pilot problem production pulse Pye Radio radar system Radiation Laboratory Radio Research range of detection receiver resonant magnetron Sergeant ships signal Squadron Leader St Athan staff Station Stuffy submarines Swanage Tizard Mission took transmitter valves Washington Watson Watt wavelength Wembley Wilkins