[Milsurplus] Radar and such

[Gordon Smith]

Hi Charlie,
While I do agree that radar was a huge part of the V1 shoot down 
equation that's only 1/2 the story. The other half was the Proximity 
shell/fuse. This development and how it literally saved (along with 
radar) Britain is documented in the wonder book "12 Seconds of 
Silence" (Amazon Link: 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T4J3Z3V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o04?ie=UTF8&psc=1 
). Many people do not realize (and I did not realize) just how 
destructive the V1 bombing experience was to Britain. With the 
deployment of Radar and Proximity shells/fuzes (Used by Coastal 
defense forces in Britain made mostly of female recruits) Britain was 
saved. As documented in the book, the shoot down rate for V1's went 
from 9% before the fuse to 97% after it was fully integrated into the 
fight. The effective use of the Proximity fuse in the Pacific is also 
documented.

73, Gordon KJ6IKT

At 09:18 AM 6/6/2022, CL in NC via Milsurplus wrote:
>Two of the best documentaries I ever have seen were on the original 
>History Channel decades ago when they still had history.  One was on 
>the X15, the other on the development of RADAR.  These videos I have 
>not seen again and have been unable to find a DVD for them.  The X15 
>was quite the aircraft.  I learned that it was not a pilot that 
>endured the most G's ever experienced by a human, but an engineer 
>strapped into the X15 who survived the explosion of the 1 million 
>pound thrust engine installed in the craft while it was clamped to 
>the test bed.  It only moved a few inches, but the G forces to move 
>it were off the chart.  NASA forbade the Air Force from going into 
>outer space, passing that arbitrary line that was labelled 'outer 
>space'.  Air Force pilots had a real issue with the formation of 
>NASA. On the X-15's last flight, bets were taken that the pilot, 
>(famous, but have forgotten his name) who was not afraid to thumb 
>his nose at NASA, was going to actually break that limi
>  t, but he did not.  He would have been the first man in space back 
> in 50's. An interesting bit of trivia in the RADAR docu, was 
> testing and working the bugs out of the radar while flying just off 
> the east coast of the US and tinkering with the set.  After several 
> fails, the got another glitch and cussed the problem, only to 
> realize it was working and picked up a German U-Boat periscope on 
> the surface of the water.  They had no armament, but flew down to 
> it and threw a wrench at it. The unconvinced ARMY was only 
> convinced about its usefulness when a prototype RADAR was put on 
> and adapted to a motorized gun mount that had a movie camera 
> installed.  As the RADAR followed the aircraft and provided the 
> input signals to the computer (analog mechanical of course)  that 
> controlled the gun mount, the aircraft stayed in the reticle of the 
> camera the entire time.  After installation on a real mount, and 
> used in England, not one V1 ever landed again, every one was shot 
> down if it came i
>  n the range of those guns.
>
>Charlie, W4MEC in NC