[The WS No19] RE: [Milsurplus] Re: British Army Radio During WWII

[J. Forster]

James C Whartenby wrote:

> On Sun, 25 May 2003 14:15:05 -0400 "J. Forster" <jfor@quik.com> writes:
> >
> > You always wind up using third best. The best never comes. The  second best
> comes  too late.

> John

> I believe this is a rough quote from Sr. Watson-Watt's book describing the
> development of the Chain Home Radar.
> Regards from Arkansas,
> Jim

"Chain Home was obsolescent from the day it was installed, in comparison to the
meter-wave equipment already available in the US and Germany at that time. CH
operated in the 10�15-meter band, which cursed it with poor resolution and high
noise levels. This was a consequence of the technological conservatism of Robert
Watson Watt, the British physicist who headed up its development. Watt chose to
go for, as Brown reports, ". . . third best, because second best takes too long
and best never comes." "

A Google find from:  http://www.aip.org/pt/vol-53/iss-10/p82.html

Nice memory, Jim.