Technological advances in the development of WW2 airborne radar

Following the independent development of radar in many countries from 1934-9 there was a need to efficiently achieve high power microwave energy to enable the transition from land based into airborne radar.

John Randall and Harry Boot at the University of Birmingham produced, in February 1940, their cavity magnetron design which enabled, for the first time, the generation of hundreds of Watts of power at 10 cm wavelength. Shortly afterwards engineers at the General Electric Company, Wembley, led by Eric Megaw, further engineered their design to generate well over a kilowatt of pulsed power. This also involved collaborations with French engineers. These high-power microwave pulses could be transmitted from an antenna only centimeters long, reducing the size and improving the resolution of practical systems enabling the realisation of long range night-fighter and anti-submarine radar systems.  

As Britain could not mass-produce these magnetrons, Winston Churchill agreed that Sir Henry Tizard should offer this magnetron design to the Americans in exchange for financial and industrial help. A 10 kW version, built at the General Electric Company, was taken to America on the Tizard Mission in September 1940. This design was immediately adopted for mass production to enhance the Allied wartime operational capability of airborne radar systems.  

The presentation will feature cavity magnetron based radars as used in naval corvettes, B17 flying fortress bombers as well as introduce the British H2S radar.