[Jedi Master Pikachu]

The picture is not coming up. Here:

[Red Badger]

All so we could have 2 minute popcorn in front of our big screen TV sets.........Freedom..........

[Lx]

Tizard the wizard. There's a chapter about this in, " A Man Called Intrepid".

[Calvin Locke]

Massachusetts Institute of Technology had set up a secret laboratory;

Yeah, a "temporary" building, #17, that they didn't tear down until about 2000. It also housed the office of that anti-American linguist, whose name escapes me at the moment.

by November, the cavity magnetron was in mass production;

One of the problems they had was the ability to duplicate the original prototype at first. Samples didn't perform like the original, and that was not a good thing. A complete technical analysis was required of each part and step of the manufacturing process. I can't remember exactly what was found that threw off the end product.

[Irish_Thatcherite]

Wow, I hadn't heard of that before!

[Leatherneck_MT]

bump for later read

[Leatherneck_MT]

bump for later read

[agere_contra]

The cavity magnetron was key to the British radar chain that put the RAF one step ahead of the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. Anti-aircraft batteries slaved to radar, radar on ships for tracking surface ships and submarine periscopes - all unbelievably important.

Someone once said that Radar stopped Britain losing the war (along with the huge Navy and the English Channel, of course).

[The Great RJ]

Imagine if the MSM of WW-II behaved the way they do today....NYT headline

Brits Give Secrets to Yanks

[grjr21]

I've got this at home




Oh well came out to small to read

But it's the Preface of a book copyrighted in 1944 called "Principles of Radar " by the MIT Radar school.

All the way at the top on all the pages the word Confidential is written and the red lettering stamped on the lower left is an espionage act warning not to transmit this to unauthorized persons.... Whoops ... I'm in trouble now

[bjc]

Intriguing, but think of the vision that Churchill had, his faith in the essential goodness and greatness of America and the numbing fear that all of this could fall into the hands of the likes of Hitler and Stalin (Remember this is 1940).

The Clinton alternative would be to try to use them to buy terms and conditions from the Nazis a la China an missile technology.

[nothingnew]

For some reason, I thought you'd be interested in this.

FMCDH(BITS)

[reagan_fanatic]

Very cool - thanks!

[RobRoy]

>>possibly the most important development of the 20th Century. <<

Ok, when was viagra developed?

[Eclectica]

Japan was way behind in radar, too, even at the end of the war.

Britain also had a cadre of "coast-listeners", who would pinpoint the arrival of the Luftwaffe.

By knowing the various signatures and numbers of Luftwaffe engines, they could identify "by ear" what fighters and bombers were arriving—and where. (Just as birders do today, when a birdsong is heard in the forest canopy overhead).

The was also a very powerful OTHR (Over-The-Horizon-Radar) transmitting from Switzerland in the 70s. I don't think we ever determined what that was about. 'Good, high country to install it, though.

[investigateworld]

Good story, thanks for posting it & bump.

[Kevmo]

BFLR

[aculeus]

bttt

[SuziQ]

Cool technology history ping!