German & Allied radar

[Bruce Dennis]

Originally Posted by PeterVerney

Thanks Bruce for an excellent summary of the technical situation.
I think where the British had the beating of the Germans in the field, was in the command and control system, because we were definitely behind technically until the 10cm magnetron was developed. The command and control system used the CH and other reports intelligently and was able to put the fighters where they were needed, with some exceptions. The Germans of course were far too regimental and did not really get their act together until Kammhuber got organised.

Hello Peter,
For reference, the RAF set up the worlds first Filtering Room at Bawdsey Manor in August 1937: it was initially an experiment, but it's value was soon recognised and it continued in use at Bawdsey until moving to Bentley Priory in 1938, by which time there were five CH stations on 24 hour duty.

Bruce

[Kutscha]

These Chain Home Low stations consisted of two separate aerial arrays, one of the transmitter and one for the receiver, mounted on 20 foot high wooden gantries, with the equipment housed in a hut undeneath each gantry. Since C.H.L. operated on a wavelength of 1.5 metres the aerials were short enough that the arrays could be rotated, which was done by hand. It was not until well after the Battle of Britain that power turned, single arrays (which combined transmitting and receiving) were introduced.

The performance of C.H.L. can be seen from the following data from 1940:
Aircraft Height / Detection Range
25 - 30 miles
1,000 feet - 40 miles
2,000 feet - 50 miles
4,000 feet - 55 - 60 miles
15,000 feet - 107 miles

http://www.skylighters.org/radar/index.html

[Juha]

Hello Kutscha
on CHL, it is better say that in 1940 rotation was done manually, look for ex.
http://www.radarpages.co.uk/mob/chl/chl1.htm

Juha

[Kutscha]

Originally Posted by Juha

Hello Kutscha
on CHL, it is better say that in 1940 rotation was done manually, look for ex.
http://www.radarpages.co.uk/mob/chl/chl1.htm

Juha

That is what 'which was done by hand' means, as in hand cranked.

[Juha]

Hello Kutscha
read a bit further, I'm cycling myself and I know that the feet do most of the work in that and as the quote says on results "her bulging calf muscles..."

Juha

[Kutscha]

Juha it is an idiom:

by hand - by using the hands; manually

[PeterVerney]

Just shows how us useless Brits got by with improvisation and lashups, not waiting for all the bells and whistles.
I cannot count how many PRACTICE interceptions I did under Bawdsey control (in the 50's). We even had a visit to the place to have it all explained to us.
So glad I was too young to do my time in the 40's.

[George Hopp]

German radar was deployed and working at the start of the war. Freya's development and deployement went exactly parellel to the CH system, only that Freya was a much superior system, both in resolution and because it covered a much greater area, as it could be rotated 360 degrees.

Yes, German radar was deployed and working at the start of the war, but not in any numbers, and not under central control. And, yes, the Freya could be rotated 360 degrees, but it needed to be done manually just like the CHL units. And, PPI scopes and machine driven rotation didn't come until 1944.

All in all, the British were better prepared for a defensive campaign than the Germans in 1939-40. It has often been said that this was because the Germans, during this period, saw themselves to be on the offensive, so why should they prepare for a defensive campaign that they felt would not develop.

[edwest]

More info about German radar:


http://www.cdvandt.org/jagdschloss.htm



Ed

[George Hopp]

Thank you, Ed, for the manual on the Jagdschloss (FuMG 404). It was probably the first production German EW radar with motorized 360 degree sweep. Unfortunately, its production began only in late 1943. It had a max. range of 80-200km depending on target altitude, and 80 were built in two frequency ranges.