Posted by John Wilson on November 17, 2011 at 01:28:04 user hugo.
In Reply to: Re: Commander Walker's Posting posted by Jock on November 16, 2011 at 09:11:32:
The wartime radar research establishment was moved from Bawdsley, as it was too vulnerable there. But Bawdsley had radar early warning stations, both a “Chain Home” station and a “Chain Home Low” station to detect low-flying aircraft. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_Home
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_Home_Low
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bawdsey
Robert Watson-Watt (see the Chain Home article) believed that “third best” would do if the second best would not be avaliable in time and the best not at all. So the Chain Home system was avaliable for the Battle of Britain; the German Freya syatem was technically superior but only had a few stations working.
The 1937 episode referred to by Jock above involved Airborn not Ground radar equipment which Bowen was developing from 1936, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Watson-Watt