Sir Sidney McSprocket and the Victory Vault – Radar
Sir Sidney McSprocket takes a trip in the Victory Vault to find his parrot Polly, and discovers the Home Chain radar network – innovative resilient technology that scanned the skies to track aircraft.
Och hello there… Sir Sidney McSprocket here!
PMy parrot Polly is still in the Victory Vault. It’s my latest invention, a totally tremendous time machine that can take us to explore incredible inventions.
I’d set the parameters to explore the dark years of the 1940s when we were at war. Come on, we better go and find her!
Radar is a system that uses radio waves to detect and track objects. It works by sending out radio waves and then observing the echoes that bounce back from objects.
The time it takes for the signal to return, the strength of the returning signal, and whether the signal has changed, helps calculate distance, direction and range of an object.
That’s how radar got its name… it’s an acronym of RAdio Detection And Ranging.
In 1942 they increased the transmitter power at Ventnor to 1 megawatt and installed new equipment which would hopefully jam Jerry’s early warning radars along the French coast.
It’s all a key part of the Chain Home network, helping provide early warning of German Luftwaffe attacks.
Sir Robert Watson-Watt
He led the development of the first practical radar system in 1936.
Did you know it could detect aircraft with a range of 140 kms?
That wasn’t good enough for Sir Robert, so to improve coverage he proposed the Chain Home system with radar towers along the coast relaying information between them.
By 1939, we had 20 Chain Home radars.
How is it made?
Radar was built off the back of another clever technology. The huge acoustic mirrors made of concrete that were built along the south coast in the 30s!
The mirror dishes focused the sound of aircraft onto a microphone which amplified the sound so it could be heard. They were great at the time as aircraft were relatively slow. But as they’ve got faster and faster… radar raised the game!
Radar gave us an enormous head start during the Battle of Britain and since then the boffins have developed an aeroplane based radar system that builds up a map of the terrain helping pilots fly more accurately.
The earliest radars were simple cathode ray oscilloscopes which show spikes for each return echo.
The far more up to date radars have circular screens and a rotating beam lighting up the image on the screen.
Much better at showing direction, although they still have to work quickly to figure out how fast aircraft are incoming before sending the information through to Fighter Command HQ to get our fighters scrambled.
Radar remains vital today for navigation, weather forecasting and air traffic control. More recent innovations include collision avoidance radar in our cars, in drones to map the countryside and even medical radar for monitoring heart rates and breathing. In the future, quantum radar and AI-enhanced systems promise breakthroughs in stealth detection and precision mapping.
What an incredible game-changing innovation!
If you would like to see a Chain Home radar sites:
Woody Bay, Isle of Wight – a back-up station to the Ventnor CH station during the Battle of Britain
RRH Staxton Wold, North Yorkshire – the only original Chain Home site still used as a military radar station, though it has been remodeled
Oh… Polly. She’s still in the Victory Vault. I better follow her… but maybe after a wee cuppa tee! Tatty bye for now!
Human Radar Game
Become a radar system in this fun and noisy group activity! Play a game of beeps and boops to guide your partner through obstacles, just like Britain’s early radar towers tracked aircraft in the sky. You’ll need to listen carefully and move precisely to avoid being spotted. It’s all about communication and timing! Get started here.
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