Würzburg radar The low - UHF band Würzburg radar was the primary ground - based gun laying radar for both the Luftwaffe and the Wehrmacht Heer ( German Army ) during World War II . Initial development took place before the war , entering service in 1940 . Eventually over 4 , 000 Würzburgs of various models were produced . It took its name from the city of Würzburg as the project leader liked geographical names . Development . In January 1934 Telefunken met with German radar researchers , notably Dr . Rudolf Kühnhold of the Communications Research Institute of the German Navy and Dr . Hans Hollmann , an expert in microwaves , who informed them of their work on an early warning radar . Telefunken ' s director of research , Dr . Wilhelm Runge , was unimpressed , and dismissed the idea as science fiction . The developers then went their own way and formed GEMA ( Gesellschaft für Elektroakustische und Mechanische Apparate ) eventually collaborating with Lorenz on the development of the Freya and Seetakt systems . By the spring of 1935 GEMA ' s successes made it clear to Runge that the idea was workable after all , so he immediately started a crash program at Telefunken to develop radar systems of their own . With Lorenz already making progress on the early warning front , Runge had the Telefunken team concentrate on a short - range gun laying system instead . Management apparently felt it to be as uninteresting as Runge had a year earlier , and assigned it a low priority for development . Nevertheless , development started and by the summer they had built a working experimental unit working in the 50 cm band that was able to generate strong returns off a target Junkers Ju 52 . By the next summer , the experimental setup had been developed into a real prototype machine known as the " Darmstadt " , which offered a range accuracy of 50 m at 5 km , not nearly enough for gun laying . Attitudes changed in late 1938 , when a full development contract was received from the Luftwaffe . The resulting system , known as the " FuMG 62 " , as well as the prototype system " FuMG 39T Darmstadt " were demonstrated to Hitler at Rechlin in July 1939 . The Telefunken team developed an accurate system based on a klystron microwave tube operating in the range of 54 to 53 cm ( 553 to 566 MHz ) – an extremely short wavelength for the time – with a pulse length of 2 microseconds , a peak power of 7 to 11 kW , and a PRF of 3 , 750 Hz . It had a maximum range of about , and was accurate to about 25 m in range . Würzburg used a 3 m paraboloid dish antenna mounted on a wheeled trailer , and the dish could be " folded " along the horizontal midline for travel . The system was first accepted into service in 1940 , and eventually 4 , 000 of this basic layout were delivered . Several versions of the basic Würzburg system were deployed over the course of the war . The first , " Würzburg A " , was operated manually and required the operators to pinpoint the target by maintaining a maximum signal on their oscilloscope display . Since the signal strength changed on its own for various reasons as well as being on or off target , this was not very accurate , and generally required the use of a searchlight to spot the target once the radar had settled on an approximate position . Nevertheless one of the very first Würzburgs claimed a plane in May 1940 by orally relaying commands to a flak unit . An experimental " Würzburg B " added an infra - red detector for " fine tuning " , but in general these devices proved to be unusable and production was discontinued . " Würzburg C " featured lobe switching to improve aiming accuracy . The C model was aimed by sending the signal out of one of two slightly off - centre feed horns in the middle of the antenna , the signal being switched rapidly between the two horns . Both returns were sent to an oscilloscope display , slightly delaying the signal from one of the horns . The result appeared as two closely separated " spikes " which the operator attempted to keep at the same height on the display . This system offered much faster feedback on changes in target position , and since any change in signal strength would affect both lobes equally , the operator no longer had to " hunt " for the maximum signal point . An almost identical system was used in the United States ' first gun - laying radar , the SCR - 268 . The " Würzburg D " , introduced in 1941 , added a conical scanning system , using an offset receiver feed called a " Quirl " ( German for whisk ) that spun at 25 Hz . The resulting signal was slightly offset from the centreline of the dish , rotating around the axis and overlapping it in the centre . If the target aircraft was to one side of the antenna ' s axis , the system would see the strength of the signal grow and fade as the beam swept across it , allowing the system to move the dish in the direction of the maximum signal and thereby track the target . Additionally , the area of the maximum signal can be made smaller than the beam width antenna itself could provide , leading to much improved accuracy . " Würzburg D ' s " accuracy was on the order of 2 degrees in azimuth and 3 degrees in elevation . In - service units were generally upgraded to the D model in the field . Even the D model was not accurate enough for direct laying of guns . In order to provide the system with much greater accuracy , the " FuMG 65 Würzburg - Riese " ( " Würzburg Giant " ) was developed . Based on the same basic circuitry as the D model , the new version featured a much larger 7 . 4 m antenna and a more powerful transmitter with a range of up to . Azimuth accuracy was 0 . 2 degrees and elevation 0 . 1 degree , more than enough for direct gun - laying . The system was now too large to be carried on a truck trailer , and was instead adapted for operation from a railway carriage as the " Würzburg - Riese - E " , of which 1 , 500 were produced during the war . The " Würzburg - Riese Gigant " was a very large version with a 160 kW transmitter , which never entered production . A Würzburg system at Bruneval on the coast of France was captured by British Paratroopers in Operation Biting , while Operation Bellicose bombed the suspected Würzburg radar factory . However , the Operation Hydra bombing of Peenemünde did not affect the nearby Giant Würzburg at the Lubmin guidance and control station used for V - 2 rocket .