Evening star., 1943-06-26
BY JOHN NJ. HIGHTOWER.

BY JOHN Nj. HIGHTOWER.
Arrangements were made for mass
production of radar in August. 1910,
when Admiral Harold G. Bowen
realized that the Nation was faced
with limited production facilities
and war was threatening on every
hand.
Admiral Bowen had lunch one
day with Charles E. Wilson, then
president of the General Electric Co,
now vice chairman of the War Pro-
duction Board. The two men were
good friends and the admiral felt
he could be blunt about it.
Charlie" he said, "one of us is a
damn fool. Either am a damn
fool for visualizing such great pos
SibilitieS for radar or else you are,
for failing to get in on it. I've been
laughed at for long time, but
think it is a billion dollar industry.
Now 1 believe can prove it to you"
Sends Scientists.
Two weeks later Mr.. Wilson sent
20 scientists from the GE laboratory
at Schnectady to inspect the Nays
radar equipment at the Naval Re-
search Laboratory and, in the re-
strained phrase of an official report,
they were most enthusiastic" An
other two weeks and Mr.. Wilson
himself came back to Washington
for demonstration.
He was so impressed with what he
saw and heard that he directed DR..
Walter R. Baker, head of GE's radio
division, to do whatever was neces-
sary to enable GE to catch up with
the Naval Laboratory's work on
radar. He also reorganized the COM
pany's radio division, making Mr..
Baker a vice president and starting
the installation of radar manufac-
turing facilities. Subsequently GE
got a large contract for naval radar
In October, 1910, Admiral Bowen
sold Westinghouse Electric Co. on
the Navy'S radar program through
conversations with A. w. Robertson
chairman of the board, and George
Bucher, president. After a visit to
NRL, Westinghouse reorganized its
radio division and got large Navy
contract.
While this work was going forward
British technical mission showed
up in the United States for an ex-
change of ideas with American
scientists. The British conferred with
Navy Department and Naval Re-
search Laboratory men and it was
then, for the first time, that the
story of Britain's radio detection
work became known to our Govern
ment.
Similar Device Perfected.
A Navy report says Of these con-
ferences:
Members of the British mission
stated that the British development
had resulted from articles reporting
the preliminary work between 1926
and 1880 of DR.. (Albert Hoyt) Taylor
and Mr.. Oeo c. Young of the Naval
Research Laboratory. and DR.. Greg
ory) Brett and DR.. Merle A. Tuve
Of the Carnegie Institute, studying
the height of the Kennedy Heaviside
layer (the worlds electric roof, $50
miles up).
With this preliminary study as a
base, the British had developed their
rsdar system and had arrived at fire.
quencies and circuits very similar to
those developed in this country"
British development actually was
the work of Sir Robert A. Watson
Watt, 51-year old Scottish physicist
He began his research some years
before the war, using as headquar-
terS a hut and a truck near Daven-
try, the headquarters of the British
Broadcasting Corp. His wife was his
first assistant. His work was carried
out behind a screen of secrecy as
great as that which prevailed in this
country and under the impulse OF
war dangers far greater than the
United States then faced.
Broke Blitz.
Sir Roberts equipment provided
his country with the radio wave wall
around its coasts when the German
Air Force tried to blitz England out
of the war. Other equipment he
made went into British night-f1ghter
planes which helped greatly in the
end to break the back of the NaZi
aerial offensive
The British had to work against
time and their progress in some
phases of radar work was COM
paratively much more swift than
that achieved in this country. IT
consequence, the first American
fighter plane to fly on actual COM
bat mission with radio detection
used British equipment. 1t was
clumsy and not built according to
the best rules of aerodynamics, but
it worked and 1t won--which was the
test it had to meet.
While it is generally accepted as a
fact today that both British and
American radio detection equipment
we're and are superior to those OF
Germany and Japan, the Germans
had set in use early in the war
1t is believed that the accuracy
with which the German Iattleship
laid its first devastating salvo on
the British cruiser Hood in May
1941, resulted from the use of radio
devices.
Bismarck Guns Hit Plane.
Further evidence of the use of
such devices on the Bismarck is
found in the fact that British
plane which subsequently located
the battleship and guided British
warships and aircraft In for the de-
struction of the big new German
capital ship was fired at and hit
while 1t was still out of sight above
the clouds.
Allied authorities could not be
sure, however, just how much the
enemy knew about this equipment
and how far his researches had
gone. They. therefore, maintained
absolute secrecy about their own
versions of the new weapon to pre-
vent any chance detail from provid-
ing the foe with a needed bit of
valuable information.
Once radar went into commercial
production in the United States,
Admiral ROryoY, xxyoe lne;,~~4.I -