I agree. Reading that again, I think that was a turn of phrase used by an ignorant reporter. Nothing in the article actually says they were tracked by radar.
It said “last seen on the radar in 1937”. As in “last time that topic was on the radar”.
I’m taking that as a reporter having no clue that there was a time before Radar. I think they meant it as in...” last seen out there somewhere”.
If someone really meant actually radar tracked, someone would want to know where the track ended. And also, what the hell kind of radar in 1937 could track a plane at 1000 AGL out there in the middle of the central pacific.
“I’m taking that as a reporter having no clue that there was a time before Radar. ...
... what the hell kind of radar in 1937 could track a plane ... in the middle of the central pacific.”
Thanks go to BwanaNdege for correcting my approximation of the timeline of radar development. The Brits in the 1930s were ahead of the entire world in radar, but they didn’t put any systems on islands in the Pacific.
Might as well trim DesertRino’s first comment to “reporter having no clue”. And the media’s lack of cluefulness seems to be on the rise, even as their inclination to actually learn something before multiplying words is on the decline.
The answer to DesertRhino’s final query is, no kind of radar, not even today.
Before radar, air traffic controllers required pilots to report their own positions via radio. After radar coverage was built over First World countries, position reporting was still required over oceans, and over low-tech areas (essentially, the Third World), until GPS began operating.