Radar-Equipped Aircraft
Courtesy of Hulton Archive/Getty Images.With the addition of radar on aircraft, possible because of the technological leaps during the war, the Allies, across all theaters, were granted a strategic advantage in gaining air control.
I. Night Interception
“They came up with some fighters where they actually put a radar in its nose and the idea was at night it could go out and try to find its own targets...that was the very beginning of air-to-air radar... it was a night fighter airplane.”
- Lt. Col. Randall DeGering, USAF (ret.)
The first employment of night fighters, combining radar sets and fighter airplanes, was to defend Britain from the Blitz in 1940.
Hurricane Mk I VY-X P3118 of 85 Sgn RAF prepares for night mission 1941.
Courtesy of World War Photos.
Night fighter Bristol Beaufighter Mk IF V8322 with A.I. Mk. IV radar.
Courtesy of World War Photos.
Night fighter Beaufighter SA-H of No. 456 Squadron RAAF Valley.
Courtesy of World War Photos.
“We were... certain that airborne radar was the solution to the night interception problem and highly optimistic about the performance of our equipment...
Mobile Radar Unit: AMES Type 9 mobile unit deployed in the field. The aerials were supported on the two 105-ft collapsible towers.
Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum.
“As 1940 drew to a close... [with] the introduction of the GCI radar into the ground control system... [for] the first time, the night fighters were being placed accurately on the tail of raiding aircraft and, when they got there, the Beaufighters had ample speed to complete an interception.”
- Edward George "Taffy" Bowen in his book Radar Days, Welsh Physicist, assistant to Robert Watson-Watt
“Not until the end of November [1940] did our hopes begin to rise that at long last we had got a combination of airborne radar and ground control that was adequate to handle an interception. The November success was very rapidly following in December by a number of more successes... culminating in the spring of 1941 with very considerable successes in the night fighter squadrons.”
- Sir Watson-Watt, from his book Three Steps to Victory, as quoted in Radar Days
Royal Air Force 1939-1945. Fighter Command, the navigator/radar operator of a No 125 Squadron Beaufighter VIF settles into his position, ready for another night patrol from Exeter, September 14, 1943.
Courtesy of Flying Officer W Bellamy/Imperial War Museums via Getty Images.
German Losses from British Night Interception
“In March [1941]... the night fighters scored 22 kills. In April, the number of enemy aircraft destroyed was 52, with a further 88 probably destroyed. In the month of May 1941, a total of 102 confirmed kills were made by the night fighters over British soil. In addition, no less than 172 enemy aircraft were severely damaged, many of which could never have reached their home bases. These were losses which the German Air Force could not sustain and from June onwards...they were few night bombing attacks of any significance on Britain.”
- Edward George "Taffy" Bowen in his book Radar Days, Welsh Physicist, assistant to Robert Watson-Watt
RPReplay_Final1708100078.movFootage of a pilot and radar guided night fighter planes during the Battle of Britain. Excerpt from the documentary Stories from the Blitz.
Courtesy of Best Documentary.
“There is no doubt that anyone who ever did any night fighting would confirm that the advent of GCI/AI radar was the turning point in our operations. The press inflicted upon me the unwelcome nickname of 'Cats-Eyes' - little did they know that the real cats' eyes were our highly-secret and very successful radar sets.”
- Group Cpt. John Cunningham, CBE, DSO, DFC, night fighter pilot, in C. Latham and A. Stobb's book Radar: A Wartime Miracle
Beyond the Blitz, night interception became essential in the Pacific theater as well.
“We were forced into the night sky by our enemy [the Japanese]. His foresight and his resourcefulness, and not our own, initiated the program which was to produce our night-trained pilots... by any standards, our night combat effectiveness was about nil [prior to 1941]...
“Only when the enemy made life particularly miserable at night was the pilot able to work in darkness... Enemy night activity was constant in the Philippines, but due to the poor performance characteristics of the planes available and our failure to profit by the experience of the British, we were helpless to intercede.... the enemy's night activity spurred the Army and Navy to feverish efforts to provide a counter measure.”
- Cmdr. James Seton Gray Jr., USN (ret.), July 1948
Nakajima Ki-43-I warming up its engine.
Courtesy of World War Photos.
The Japanese flew excessively noisy planes over the islands with Allied troops, exhausting them, so night fighters were used to eliminate the activity.
The Northrop P-61 Black Widow, named for the North American spider, was the first operational US warplane designed as a night fighter, and the first aircraft designed to use radar, circa 1940.
Courtesy of Camerique/Getty Images.
Dawn Landing: A Grumman Hellcat comes in for a dawn landing on a U.S. Navy carrier after a night prowl in enemy skies.
Courtesy of the US Navy.
P-61A 42-5524 Midnight Mickey of the 6th Night Fighter Squadron.
Courtesy of World War Photo.
Planes over Flight Deck of US Navy Escort Aircraft Carrier, 1943.
Courtesy of World War Photos.
“Night fighters from the remaining carriers of the task force were now able to fill a previously defenseless gap which saw Japanese airfields unopposed at first dawn and after the departure of the last day fighter for their carriers at dusk... our night fighters were assigned the task of covering these fields... thus keeping many of the kamikaze grounded through the last nine months of the war.”
- Cmdr. James Seton Gray Jr., USN (ret.), July 1948
“Squadron histories show that in the Pacific during the latter part of WWII, [night fighters and daytime fighters] racked up approximately equal scores... In Japan's last desperate effort to stave off American sea power, heavy attacks were mounted by kamikazes, usually under half-light conditions. With the advent of 24-hour patrols, the frequency of kamikaze raids dropped... This small group of men who put their faith in unfamiliar electronic developments were truly aviation pioneers.”
- Col. William Odell, USAF (ret.), January 1989
RPReplay_Final1705106514.movFootage of dogfighting between Allied and Axis planes.
Courtesy of British Pathé
Through night interference, radar was allowed to technologically advance, and night fighters became a strategic necessity for the militaries of the world.
Air Interception: Wing Commander C P "Paddy" Green (wearing a flying officer's SD jacket), Commanding Officer of No. 600 Squadron RAF at Cassibile, Italy, looks out of the cockpit of Bristol Beaufighter Mark VIF, V8762 'A'. The aircraft is equipped with AI Mark IV radar.
Courtesy of Picryl.
Hurricane 3 Squadron, night fighters, taxiing, 1942.
Courtesy of World War Photos.
Flying at dusk: Vickers Wellington planes, equipped with ASV radar, flying at dusk over clouds.
Courtesy of World War Photos.
“[The] story of this first night carrier air group is one of resourcefulness and courage... [it] proved once and for all that command of the air on less than a twenty-four hour basis is not acceptable in a military sense... at any time and in any weather our air power must be effective.”
- Cmdr. James Seton Gray Jr., USN (ret.), July 1948
II. Bombing Campaigns
Aircraft Navigation and Guidance: Diagram illustrating the position of radar navigation and identification aids in Royal Air Force Bombers.
Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum.
Following the development of night interception, the British designed and were implementing the first bombing-and-navigation airborne radar by January 1943, called the H2S.
“[H2S] facilitated blind bombing, thereby raising the bomb tonnage dropped in any one period, and [helped ensure] that what was dropped landing on the specified target rather than an open countryside.”
- M. Kirby and R. Capey, Lancaster University, for the Journal of the Operational Research Society, 1997
Radar equipment fitted to a RAF Beaufort August 15, 1945
Courtesy of Memory Lane Galleries.
Radar devices on RAF Lancaster bomber during the Second World War. The tell-tale bulge on this Lancaster bomber, just below the RAF roundel, is the blister containing the revolving reflector-like scanner for the H2S radar system. This reproduces outline of the unseen coast towns and other features in the flight path of the bomber. August 1945.
Courtesy of Daily Mirror Library/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images.
Still from film shot by the RAF Film Production Unit during operation HURRICANE. Avro Lancaster B Mk 1, NG128 'SR-B', of No. 101 Squadron RAF, piloted by Warren Officer R. B. Tibbs releases a 4,000-lb HC bomb and 30-lb incendiary bombs.
Courtesy of Howard L (Fg Off): No. 1 RAFFPU via the Imperial War Museum.
The Americans soon turned out their own self-contained airborne radar.
“[In 1943, the Rad Lab created the] H2X, a navigational and bombing radar... After being considered and rejected on at least two occasions, H2X was finally accepted with enthusiasm. The [US] 8th [Air Force], in June 1943, demanded 20 sets by September.”
- T. A. Saad, Electrical Engineer, Theoretical/Microwave Division of the Rad Lab
H2X Mickey Operator of Lockheed P-38 Droop Snoot Literally Crawls Into the AN/APS-15 Components.
Courtesy of the World War Photos.
American Air Force Bombers on Holiday Mission - (Original Caption): Germany: B-17, Flying Fortresses of the US Eighth Air Force drop their holiday greetings from open bomb-bay doors, high over Germany on December 24th. This was part of the record force which attacked Nazi targets.
Courtesy of Getty Images.
Aircraft Navigation and Guidance: As the war advanced, radar was used to target weapons on board aircraft. Photo shows: An Avro Lincoln bomber equipped with 0.5 in machine guns fitted to the rear turret. These were aimed by a radar unit which is sited in a dome visible below their barrels.
Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum.
Scientists Frederic Calland Williams (1911 - 1977, left) and Bennett Lewis (1908 - 1987) checking an Airborne Interception (AI) radar dish antenna at the Telecommunications Research Establishment at Malvern College, Worcestershire, 21st August 1945. The antenna is designed to be fitted in the nose-mounted radome of a night fighter.
Courtesy of Jimmy Wilds/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
When airborne radar was paired with supplementary navigational bombing technology, the Allied bombing campaigns were flying incessantly, heavily impacting the Axis.
RPReplay_Final1705106181.movFootage of the night-time bombing of Dresden. Excerpt from Dresden Bombed To Atoms: World War II (1945).
Courtesy of British Pathé.
“[Overall, airborne radar] played a major part in smashing sub warfare; shooting down German planes... guiding the bombers over the beaches at Normandy; controlling our attack planes in the big push to the Rhine; and leading the 8th AF bombers in all their missions through overcast, in summer and winter, from November 1943 onward.”
- T. A. Saad, Electrical Engineer, Theoretical/Microwave Division of the Rad Lab
This unprecedented strategic technology was the culmination of the war-time technological evolution of radar, representing a turning point in modern strategic warfare.
“As night raids on Britain tapered off, the radar equipped Mosquitoes [planes] began to play an increasing role in assisting the Allied bombing attack on occupied Europe... they accompanied the bomber streams and protected them from attacks by German night fighters... [and they were] intruders. On the night of a big raid, they would hover around enemy airfields and attack German night fighters when they were most vulnerable.”
- Edward George "Taffy" Bowen in his book Radar Days, Welsh Physicist, assistant to Robert Watson-Watt
A.I. [Air Interception] Mark VIIIB is installed in the Mosquito XIII night fighter.
Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum.
Mosquito B Mark XVI, ML926/G, fitted with a ventral radome, in flight while testing H2S radar with the Telecommunications Flying Unit based at Defford, Worcestershire. This aircraft was also used by the TFU to test radar bombsight and 'Oboe' repeater equipment.
Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum.
“Modern warfare took on a new dimension with the innovation of radar; of its most effective applications was in aerial combat.”
- Col. William Odell, USAF (ret.), January 1989
Following the extensive war-time investment, post-war radar would only continue to develop and improve.
“After the war is over with, there's a big lesson learned about... how fantastic radar is.”
- Lt. Col. Randall DeGering, USAF (ret.)