[Milsurplus] Re: liferaft radar reflectors

[BOEING377 at aol.com]

Interesting. It may be that the radar cross section of the boat was already pretty large, so the increase in cross section due to the reflector would not add much. OTOH, the cross section of a life raft was likely tiny, so the reflectors were useful.

-John

Real world reflectivity always puzzled me. Believe it or not Pelicans showed up really well on a 1960's Decca 101 radar. Some fishing boats showed up really well and others not well at all, and no big differences in materials or rigging. Whatever the USCG used on ocean buoys sure worked because the reflected better than any other target of comparable size.

When the USAF B2 Stealth Bomber flew very low over the SF waterfront a few years ago to upstage the Navy for a Fleet Week weekend show, it was picked up on boat radars quite clearly. We were told that it carried a radar reflector for non combat ops.

I am still trying to gather info on use of surplus aircraft radar on fishing boats. In the 1960s I saw several tuna boats from San Diego with underwing radar pods mounted on top of their wheelhouses. I was told that the only gave a forward looking pie slice shaped sector scan, PPI display. Never did find out the type of radar. Any guesses?