kolibri282 Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 (edited) Hi, Is anyone interested in German Radar during WW2? I know it's off the beaten track, but it does attach itself heavily to the Luftwaffe. I read a book recently by RV Jones called Most Secret War, an excellent history of British Scientific Intelligence before and during WW2. RV Jones was the head of the department. The story it tells is mostly obscured by other more popular interests on WW2, the fact it was top secret during the war and for many years after has been shrouded in mystery, even so Jones and his team fought and won the war against German Scientific technology. How he achieved this with his incredible team is the stuff of Len Deighton and Sherlock Holmes. I can't begin to stress how Jones saved the British in so many ways from behind the thick veil of secrets. In this book it goes into great depths about German Radar and transmitter, the first one we encounter is Kniekbein ( or crooked leg) I've looked at pictures and plans of the original aerial transmitter on it's turntable, it looks like it wouldn't be too hard to build in 1/72 scale. There's a whole collection of the aerials some and some incredible structures like Mammut, Wassermann which were truly gigantic aerials. I would imagine one of the aerials as part of a diorama would be quite interesting. kneikbein we're positioned near airfields and their turntable rails still exist as aerial photos have shown. There isn't too much out there on German Radar I've found in my research sadly. anyone out there interested ? Edited August 29, 2020 by kolibri282 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blimpyboy Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 (edited) Hiya! Aah, a topic very close to my heart (SEAD’s my thing)! There’s quite a bit of info out there, plus some really nice kits. FYI, if not already seen: http://www.lonesentry.com/blog/german-radar-of-wwii.html and https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/the-bruneval-raid-german-radar.html And for your tactical diorama needs: https://www.das-werk-models.com/products/fmg-39-fuse-62-d-würzburg/ Edited August 29, 2020 by Blimpyboy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blimpyboy Posted August 30, 2020 Share Posted August 30, 2020 (edited) Some random general reference: http://www.gyges.dk/Himmelbett.htm http://lucafusari.altervista.org/page1/page26/WurzburgRadar.html https://www.cdvandt.org/wurzburg_rep.htm http://vc.airvectors.net/ttwiz_12.html https://steveblank.com/2009/04/27/the-secret-history-of-silicon-valley-part-vi-the-secret-life-of-fred-terman-and-stanford/ https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/what-if-finland-had-been-prepared-for-the-winter-war.185434/page-23 https://www.cdvandt.org/neg62.htm Some books: Some kits: And, to add some interest to any radar-based diorama, try these: From https://www.pinterest.ie/brian7100/german-radar/ From https://www.pinterest.it/alberto_campani/wurzburg-radar/ Edited August 31, 2020 by Blimpyboy 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blimpyboy Posted August 30, 2020 Share Posted August 30, 2020 (edited) The Brits were already making models of these things before the war had even ended (from this interesting overview of the Bruneval Raid {Operation Biting} http://www.krijgsrecherche.nl/battlestudy27.html)! Edited August 31, 2020 by Blimpyboy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blimpyboy Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 This paper has an interesting take on German radar developments, including in the pre-WW2 period - I remember being surprised when I first read it, in finding that RDF was widely experimented with in the early 1900s! https://fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/docs/97-0609F.pdf 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Kay Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 Nice find, and interesting read. Thanks for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scimitar F1 Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 There were some very able people in the UK working on defending the UK from the Air in the 30’s The creation of the Chain Home Network using off the shelf components where possible that allowed it to be ready in time, the setting up of shadow factories, the RAFVR training large numbers of NCO pilots demonstrate a seriousness and application that is too often obscured. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blimpyboy Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 (edited) My favourite take on radar being the winning element of the Battle of Britain: Edited August 31, 2020 by Blimpyboy 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolls-Royce Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 I remember seeing on one of those "strange and odd things" kind of television shows about an enormous radar antenna that the Soviets built in the eastern part of Russia, facing West. It looks very similar to the "hoarding radar" shown in one of Blimpyboy's posts above, but much bigger. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, work on it ceased and now it sits derelict and abandoned. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antti_K Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 17 minutes ago, Rolls-Royce said: I remember seeing on one of those "strange and odd things" kind of television shows about an enormous radar antenna that the Soviets built in the eastern part of Russia, facing West. It looks very similar to the "hoarding radar" shown in one of Blimpyboy's posts above, but much bigger. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, work on it ceased and now it sits derelict and abandoned. The Soviets had a radar system that was called "Iron Fence" here in Finland. It was a low frequency, high power, "beyond the horizon" strategic early warning system that was easily recognizable from it's low, humming noise. Cheers, Antti 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 The Duga OTH arrays, near Chernobyl I'd guess. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antti_K Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 5 hours ago, alt-92 said: The Duga OTH arrays, near Chernobyl I'd guess. I would say that the one I have in my mind was located further east. But after 30 years I can't be sure. The radar transmitted only now and then and it meant that all kind of activity was taking place beyond the Iron Curtain. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 Well, the 50MW Cobra Mist installation at Orford Ness was projected and able to reach as far as Belarus and beyond. A Duga or similar was also located on the Eastern Siberia side to cover the Pacific area. Early Warning, you want to be able to look as far as 2000+ NM out. Pick an interesting spot where you want to detect stuff, then draw a wide arc in that range. You might even try triangulating between different theatres (NW Europe, Med) to determine a good search aerea 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolls-Royce Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 6 hours ago, alt-92 said: The Duga OTH arrays, near Chernobyl I'd guess. I do believe you and Antti_K are both right. I had seen the HBO series on Chernobyl before I saw the program in question, so its reference to Chernobyl caught my attention. And I do remember that it was described as an over-the-horizon radar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antti_K Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 Some photos I took at Ilmatorjuntamuseo, Hyrylä showing a Wurzburg Riese (or Irja, as it was called in Finland). We also had "Freya" radars, but I think that there isn't a single one remaining here in Finland. After the war the Soviets took all (well almost) German originated radar equipment away. Enjoy the pictures. Cheers, Antti 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icedtea Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 On 8/30/2020 at 7:42 AM, kolibri282 said: Hi, Is anyone interested in German Radar during WW2? I know it's off the beaten track, but it does attach itself heavily to the Luftwaffe. I read a book recently by RV Jones called Most Secret War, an excellent history of British Scientific Intelligence before and during WW2. RV Jones was the head of the department. The story it tells is mostly obscured by other more popular interests on WW2, the fact it was top secret during the war and for many years after has been shrouded in mystery, even so Jones and his team fought and won the war against German Scientific technology. How he achieved this with his incredible team is the stuff of Len Deighton and Sherlock Holmes. I can't begin to stress how Jones saved the British in so many ways from behind the thick veil of secrets. In this book it goes into great depths about German Radar and transmitter, the first one we encounter is Kniekbein ( or crooked leg) I've looked at pictures and plans of the original aerial transmitter on it's turntable, it looks like it wouldn't be too hard to build in 1/72 scale. There's a whole collection of the aerials some and some incredible structures like Mammut, Wassermann which were truly gigantic aerials. I would imagine one of the aerials as part of a diorama would be quite interesting. kneikbein we're positioned near airfields and their turntable rails still exist as aerial photos have shown. There isn't too much out there on German Radar I've found in my research sadly. anyone out there interested ? I had the paperback of that book once. Its a side interest of mine too along with Flak gunnery etc. I have a book here (ex library disposal job I spotted at a sale!) called 'Confound and Destroy' by Martin Streetly which deals mainly with the radar war in the air and RAF 100 Group. A useful companion to the RV Jones book and others. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blimpyboy Posted September 1, 2020 Share Posted September 1, 2020 It's not wholly focused on radar, but this paper provides an interesting overview of the electronic component of the air war in Europe: https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a215411.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveWilko Posted September 2, 2020 Share Posted September 2, 2020 Sir,during the late 1970's,the BBC aired a very good series entitled "The Secret War" covering most of the aspects of the developments of various devices by both sides in the European Theatre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_War_(TV_series) One would imagine that it can be found on some of the upload sites such as YouTube. David. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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