The Cavity Magnetron, key to the success of WW2 airborne RADAR
Online event
About
Following the independent development of radar in many countries from 1934-9 there was a need to achieve high power microwave energy efficiently 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 centimetres 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 focus on the development timeline and the people involved and will also feature cavity magnetron based radars as used in naval corvettes, B17 flying fortress bombers as well as introduce the British H2S radar
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Continuing Professional Development
This event can contribute towards your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours as part of the IET's CPD monitoring scheme.
23 Apr 2026
7:00pm - 8:15pm
Organiser
- Anglian Coastal Local Network
Registration information
Please register for this online event using the link:-
Speakers
Professor Peter Grant
Professor - University of Edinburgh
Peter Grant was born in St. Andrews. He received in 1966 a BSc from the Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, the PhD degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1975, honorary Doctorates of Engineering from the Heriot-Watt in 2006 and Edinburgh Napier University in 2007 and a further Honorary Doctorate from the University of Edinburgh in 2016.
Following 5 years in industry he was appointed at the University of Edinburgh in 1971, subsequently promoted to Professor and served as the first head of the School of Engineering, 2002-8. His research in signal processing for communication systems, was recognized with the 82nd (2004) Faraday Medal award by the Institution of Electrical Engineers.
In 2007 he was appointed to the 8th Regius Professor of Engineering at Edinburgh. In 2009 he was made an officer of the order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s birthday honours list. He holds fellowships of EURASIP, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
He has served for 13 years as a Trustee of the James Clerk Maxwell Foundation, at India Street, in the Edinburgh New Town and is a trustee of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scotland Foundation.
Programme
The lecture will start promptly at 19:00, Please allow a few minutes to log in.
Start and Introductions 19:00
Q&A start Approx 19:45
Event finishes Approx 20:15