Oral History of Defence Electronics |
An account by D.H. Tomlin on finding a working
Würzburg Radar in occupied Germany. |
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Hoffmanns role did not finish with the disappointing trial run of
the Würzburg Radar. He was used in the evaluating and repair of a number
of German captured equipment such as a German made radio which was an exact
copy of a H2S 10cm Transistor/receiver. This was copied from an
allied aircraft that was shot down over Rottadam, hence its name the Rottadam
radio, exactly by the German engineers, but when a component was not recognised
a similar one from German radios was used. This gave the radio a poor
range. The British engineers replaced some of these parts with the correct parts and used it to evaluate the effectiveness of the German magnetron which was used in the radios. this too was seen as being of poor quality compared to the British designed one. Before Hoffmann was released after the war he was shown how the British GLS 10cm, which the Germans had believed was not possible, equivalent worked, using the test planes again to track Hoffmann could see the difference in range which for the GLS radar was 3300m! Hoffmann in 1985, after moving to America, became the president of a large Electronics and Radar company, an appreciation of his talents. The Würzburg radars' life continued in the field of test technology using its large aerial and 25cm GR (gun ranging) signals to test the effects of different weather conditions on lower frequency radar. Towards the end of its life it was used by a Dr Hays to test the effects of noise on radar, however the Würzburg was not capable of receiving the required sounds and so was left until the launch of the Russian Sputnik when the Russians asked Britain for assistance in tacking it due to the poor quality of their own systems. The Würzburg was adapted for this purpose and, against all odds, worked. this was the last use of the Würzburg due to it falling into disrepair after the collapse of its large aerial. Back |