[Milsurplus] (no subject)

[Michael Kane]

I feel I must clarify some details regarding the disposal of large
quantities of US military equipment at the end of WW2, and the claim that
it contributed to the formation of Australia's CSIRO.
The CSIR as it was then known was formed in 1926, primarily to assist
Australia's rural industries. Naturally over time research branched out
into many other fields,
one result the formation of the Radio Physics laboratory, dealing primarily
with research into radar in the WW2 1939 to 1945 years.  Radio Physics Lab
research was shared equally with allied research organizations in Britain
and the US. One result of this was the portable Australian LW/AW radar
equipment which saw use in the pacific during US island hopping advances.

Following WW2 the then appointed head of the Radio Physics lab was "Taffy"
Bowen, known best in the US as a member of the Tizard group, who brought
details of the top secret cavity magnetron from Britain to the US. Bowen
came from Britain and had large involvement in British WW2 Radar.

Bowen realized that Radio Physics needed to find a new role post war,
resulting in Australia's Radio Physics Lab eventually becoming one of the
world's premier research organizations in the field of Radio Astronomy,
Aircraft DME  was another. ( I have one of these late 1940s/early 1950s
VAN-3  DME  200mhz units)

During this same period the first generation Australian computer was
designed and built. It was known as CSIRAC, was considered equal to other
first generation computers , the original equipment now in a museum in
Melbourne.  CSIRAC is believed to be the only first generation computer now
existing. Schematics are held in CSIRO archives, and available online.

It is here that the unwanted US military equipment re-enters the story.
Taffy Bowen discovered that all this equipment was to be pushed off an
American aircraft carrier into the sea, and put in a request to US
authorities for much of it to be given to the fledgling Radio Astronomy
group. Weeks of donated labour and heavy vehicles saw two large warehouses
in Sydney's Botany district filled to the brim. The remainder of the
unwanted equipment was then dumped at sea.

It is also possible that some of this ended up in sheds, barns and under
beds. Aussies are as good pack rats as any race.  This part of the story
was told me by an uncle (SK) who assisted me greatly in my pre and early
teens, recognizing my insatiable interest in Radio. I remember he had a lot
of "Black Wrinkle" gear in his shed!  I still have dozens of new 6AC7s and
others bearing the stamp "US Navy/ Pacific area". He had built a TV
receiver with 5BP1 and numerous 6AC7s.  I was hooked!

Taffy Bowen was responsible for the eventual construction of the  Parkes
NSW  Radio Astronomy dish, which became operational in 1961, once again
known in the US for the role it played in the Apollo 11 moon landing. All
this of course is but a fraction of the story........

I would recommend the book  "Beyond Southern Skies",  Radio astronomy and
the Parkes Telescope, by Peter Robertson to anyone interested in Australian
Radio Astronomy history, and the activities of the Radio Physics laboratory.

 Michael Kane  VK4ZKT
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