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The Story of Radar‘ Watson-Watt’s Stuff’(BBC' OveriMi Service)JUST over twenty-five years ago a young Scottish scientist working in the British Government’s Radio Research Station near London produced a satisfactory instrument for detecting the size and direction of thunderstorms. It was a short step to move to other forms of detection, not-ably that of aircraft in flight, and so the story of radar really began.Sir Robert Watson - Watt, t h e scientist in question, who now lives in Canada, spoke in a recent broadcast about the birth of the system which played an immense part in winning the war and is finding ever-widening applications in time of peace.Watson Watt had had twenty years* experience in radio research before the day in January. 1935, when the Air Ministry asked him about the possibilities of a beam of damaging radiation as an aid to defence against air attack.' He had not thought much of the idea-of a “death ray,” Sir Robert said, and accordingly wrote a short memorandum to that ef/ect; but added a paragraph saying he was prepared to submit calculations for using radio to detect and locate (rather than to destroy) aircraft. The Air Ministry had been interested in the idea but Air Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, commonly known as “Stuffy,” had asked for a demonstration before he was convinced of its value.‘The successful demonstration was given on February 26, 1935,” said Sir Robert, “and on February 27 my proposal was recommended for urgent implementation. This is why I take February 27 as the real birthday of radar as a system, not just a gadget or a black box.Within five months an experimental station had been built ntar the southeast coast of England andaircraft were being located at distances of up to more than thirty miles. By the summer of 1937 radar could “see’’ nearly 100 miles, and it was decided to set up a chain of warning stations along the coast. The radar chain was ready just in time for the war. and without it the Battle of Britain n|ight never have been won.The ingenious name of radar, thought up by a United States Navy officer for the U.S. equipment, had not be«»n adopted until early in 1944, Sir Robert said; but he had beenfoolishly proud that his employer, King George VI, who had built his own broadcast receivers with his own hands, had always called radar Just “Watson-Watt’s atuffWhen the late King had knighted him in mid 1942, “he metaphorically tapped me on the shoulder again, by holding up the investiture to say They tell me your stuff isn't coming in fast enough.’ ”Group Captain Fennessy, who Joined Watson-Watt as a young engineer before the war and is now managing director of Decca Radar Limited, concluded the broadcast by mentioning some of the peaceful de-developmenta of radar. “Britain has led the world in the application of radar to marine navigation,” he said, “and well over half of all the mer-chant ships that carry radar carry British radar. The great ports of the world are now fitting harbor radar systems. In the air, the modern airliner is guided safely by its radar weather eye past dangerous thunderstorms, and approaching its destination giant ground radars track it. advising the pilot of any collision risk.” Bernard Lovell, an early pioneer of radar, now had his giant space radar at JodreU Bank which could seek the strange radio noises from space or track a moon probe.
Newspaper Details
Victoria Daily Colonist
Victoria, British Columbia, CA
Wed, Jul 13, 1960
Page 21
Full Page
Clipped by
Blake P.
CA 02 Sep 2020
Other Publications Near Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria General Conference Daily Bulletin
Victoria Evening Telegraph
Victoria New Westminster Times and Vancouver Island Guardian
Victoria New Westminster Times
Victoria Vancouver Daily Standard
