History of Radar
Radar was invented in 20th century and had been in existence three decades before the start of WWII. Its major developments happened during World War II as each country particularly Germany, Britain, and the U.S. understood the strategic importance of radar as an offensive and defensive weapon. It was the British who were furthest along in the development of radar and who contributed most to its military development.
Radar had many uses during the war mainly due to its ability to detect objects: this fact was utilized by ships, aircrafts and ground forces. Radars were mounted on ships and used to aim anti-aircraft guns due to its high accuracy. Ships also used radar for navigation during night and heavy fog conditions. Aircraft also used radar to aim at ground based targets. (the primary focus of this website) Ground based radar however, was also used. They could be used to detect enemy aircraft Also during the war; meteorologists in the military recognized the use of radar to track storms which ensured the safety of military aircraft and ships.
Winston Churchill knew that Britain needed American scientific, engineering, and manufacturing resources to win the war. He decided to unconditionally share the major development in the history of radar which was the British invention of the cavity magnetron by Randall and Boot of Birmingham University in early 1940. This was a small device which generated microwave frequencies much more efficiently than previous devices, allowing the development of practical centimetric radar.
At the beginning of August 1940, Churchill authorized Tizard to form a team to take Britain’s most promising new technologies and demonstrate them to the Americans. The Tizard mission was a party of seven, including Tizard himself. Loomis, Bush, and other NDRC officials realized that a civilian research lab had to be set up outside of military control, using NDRC funding, to ensure that cavity magnetron technology was developed and deployed as quickly as possible. It was the cavity magnetron which would allow the development and deployment of the of H2S "Stinky" and H2X "Mickey" radar units that would lead to the establishment of Bomb Through Overcast (BTO) and the Pathfinder Forces (PFF) of the 482nd Bomb Group.
8th Army Air Force and the need for Radar
As the U.S. 8th Army Air Force continued its build up in England during 1942 and 1943, it became obvious to VIII Bomber Command (BC) that the success of an offensive strategic bombing offensive would be contingent on the ability of the VIII BC to operate above the weather and bomb through overcast. In December of 1942 the VIII BC had an average of 72 heavy operational bombers available to strike at enemy targets. The weather in Dec of 1942 did not permit one operational day and the first 15 days of January 1943 did not allow the 8th to complete a mission. England and Western Europe experienced a storm on average every three days. In addition, fog and low hanging clouds created early morning delays and challenges in aircraft forming up over England for the trip across the channel. It was a very complex problem for VIII BC. Estimates by 8th Army Air Force Meteorologists suggested that visual bombing opportunities against targets in Germany would exist on average between 20 and 30 % of the time.
Ira Eaker, commanding General of the 8th Army Air Force, proposed that there were only 75 days per year where the weather would ground all aircraft. What was needed was the ability to Bomb through Overcast (BTO) on days when visual bombing was not an option. The U.S. 8th looked to the British who had developed "Oboe" and "Gee". Although both Oboe and Gee would become very effective navigational aids they did not solve the problem of BTO as the Germans had discovered ways to jam them and their range was limited during day light hours. Eaker turned instead the British H2S "Stinky" unit.
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