were augmented by another development at the Laboratories, the ‘Turbinlite’,
a powerful searchlight placed in the nose of interceptors to illuminate enemy
aircraft which could then be engaged by fighters or from the ground by
conventional means. At first quite successful, it was later abandoned due to
indifference by senior operations officers, and improvements in airborne
radar. And airborne radar interception generally seemed to be working well,
Paterson recording in May, ‘The Hun seem shy of coming over …’, but all of
this was at a cost to those developing the technology, a crash at TRE in early
June costing the lives of three of their most able men. Mid July saw Robert
and Gossling ‘entertaining’ a delegation from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology who were both interested and impressed by the work at the
Laboratories, and Robert presented yet another set of accounts to Paterson—
but this time together with his new ‘intelligent’ assistant, Miss Lock.
Paterson’s comment regarding ‘the Hun’ too was ‘spot on’, Watson Watt
having delivered a speech in the Machine Shop of GEC’s Radio and
Television Works in Coventry in early August explaining that over the last
few weeks the number of German night raiders brought down by their
equipment was greater than the quantity brought down by all the other
defensive devices put together, adding exactly what Paterson needed to further exhort his ‘slackers’ at Wembley, viz.,
… what the workers are doing is to make life just a little easier for the ace
night fighters who have to fly in a black sky in the middle of the night
looking for black-painted aircraft …
August also saw a ‘heavy push’ on H2S with the Laboratories engaged mainly
via the supply of magnetrons, a larger (waveguide) version of which—developed by W. E. Willshaw—was beginning to replace the resonant cavity
type. This 3 cm magnetron, although radiating half as much energy as the
older type, did so at a much-reduced spread of frequencies about the required
value and was expected to be more effective. Both Robert and Willshaw
briefed Paterson regarding the theoretical aspects of this new device and its
implications for production. Early September saw Robert leading consultations regarding the heavy-duty cathodes for these magnetrons but by October
both Robert and Megaw had something of a ‘set-to’ with the Admiralty
Signals School regarding the life of these cathodes—such ‘spats’ being quite a
common feature of the Laboratories’ relationships with the military and
manufacturers in the early stages of new developments. With 1942 drawing
to a close, Willshaw made improvements to the new magnetron (more power)
and both he and Robert visited Oxford in November to update people there
428
D. Sheppard
a powerful searchlight placed in the nose of interceptors to illuminate enemy
aircraft which could then be engaged by fighters or from the ground by
conventional means. At first quite successful, it was later abandoned due to
indifference by senior operations officers, and improvements in airborne
radar. And airborne radar interception generally seemed to be working well,
Paterson recording in May, ‘The Hun seem shy of coming over …’, but all of
this was at a cost to those developing the technology, a crash at TRE in early
June costing the lives of three of their most able men. Mid July saw Robert
and Gossling ‘entertaining’ a delegation from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology who were both interested and impressed by the work at the
Laboratories, and Robert presented yet another set of accounts to Paterson—
but this time together with his new ‘intelligent’ assistant, Miss Lock.
Paterson’s comment regarding ‘the Hun’ too was ‘spot on’, Watson Watt
having delivered a speech in the Machine Shop of GEC’s Radio and
Television Works in Coventry in early August explaining that over the last
few weeks the number of German night raiders brought down by their
equipment was greater than the quantity brought down by all the other
defensive devices put together, adding exactly what Paterson needed to further exhort his ‘slackers’ at Wembley, viz.,
… what the workers are doing is to make life just a little easier for the ace
night fighters who have to fly in a black sky in the middle of the night
looking for black-painted aircraft …
August also saw a ‘heavy push’ on H2S with the Laboratories engaged mainly
via the supply of magnetrons, a larger (waveguide) version of which—developed by W. E. Willshaw—was beginning to replace the resonant cavity
type. This 3 cm magnetron, although radiating half as much energy as the
older type, did so at a much-reduced spread of frequencies about the required
value and was expected to be more effective. Both Robert and Willshaw
briefed Paterson regarding the theoretical aspects of this new device and its
implications for production. Early September saw Robert leading consultations regarding the heavy-duty cathodes for these magnetrons but by October
both Robert and Megaw had something of a ‘set-to’ with the Admiralty
Signals School regarding the life of these cathodes—such ‘spats’ being quite a
common feature of the Laboratories’ relationships with the military and
manufacturers in the early stages of new developments. With 1942 drawing
to a close, Willshaw made improvements to the new magnetron (more power)
and both he and Robert visited Oxford in November to update people there
428
D. Sheppard