Very interesting read

Hi LewZ, you mentioned radar and Pearl Harbour. I see that yesterday 7/12/25 was also a Sunday. At the moment we have other anniversaries in UK.

The land based radar on Oahu, really not appreciated by the senior military and not yet bought into use for defense. At that time the Japanese were more interested in radar for the navigation among their islands rather than for attack and defense.

Only a few days after Pearl Harbour events, the UK lost 2 battleships for much the same reasons on the 10th. December 1941. The Prince of Wales and Repulse had gunnery radar and defense radar. Their commanders still thought about big gun tactics . Repulse did detect the bombers coming but it was too late to react. PoW was the first battleship to be sunk on the high seas by aerial bombardment.

The first major warship to have radar was the German KM Admiral Graf Spee the first fit was pre-war and then a later fit up-dated the radar. She was sunk on 13th. December 1939, mostly by deception. When visible to all in Montevideo, very few were aware of the radar antenna.

In the UK the propaganda thought up the fiction that carrots gave you better eyesight to explain the use of radar (at night) in aircraft. (Remember "Cats eyes Cunningham")

I think the carrier Swordfish biplanes were the only biplanes ever to have radar on board.

In 1958 I was working on bombing radar as used in English Electric Canberra BI. 8's, (bomber interception) it was very complex with many boxes spread around the aircraft. Several were marked "Tropicalised 1944". The equipment must have previously used in Avro Lancasters.

The US version of the English Electric Canberra was the Martin B57 (July 1953) but prior to that the CIA had modified the aircraft with increased wing area and was used as a Spy plane. Canberra first flew in May 1949.
Roy