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Show Radar Magical Beam That Bounces Back on Contact Lightning Calculator Estimates Distances Upon Deflection of Electrons; Study Of Apparatus Still in Infancy. By BAUKIIAGE News Analyst and Commentator. -Jyff WNU Service, Union Trust Building. Washington. D. C. (In a previous m title Mr. UuukhitKe '.old some of the little known facts in the history und development of radar imf recorded ninny of Us possible peacetime peace-time IMas, In this article he exilains what makes radar tick and hmv it performed per-formed some o it marvelous feats in ihis war J "Impact." a publication of the office of-fice of the assistant chief of air staff, utelligence branch, for the first dme lifting the veil which has cov-ired cov-ired descriptions of radar, says suc-linctly: suc-linctly: "A radar set is nothing uore than a machine for sending electrons out into space in a steady itream In a desired direction. These electrons travel with the speed of jght in a straight line until their energy is dissipated, or unless they Dump into something." That bump is important. If a itream of electrons is shot into the sir like a searchlight and a plane flies across the stream, the electrons elec-trons which hit the plane bounce back. They bounce right back to a icreen in the radar scope and are revealed in the form of a "blip" f light, just as an echo bounding back on your eardrum is reflected In the form of a sound. The principle of the real echo is used In "sonic" location of obstaclesships obsta-clesships use it to locate shoals, for instance. And, recently, lt has oeen demonstrated that bats use the same principle in avoiding obstacles ob-stacles (which they can't see since they are blind) by uttering a tiny "beep," the pitch of which is probably prob-ably too high for the human ear to catch. Their beep bounces back in time to warn them to duck. But radar's electronic "blip" Is Better than a sonic "beep." One reason Is that an electron moves with the speed of light which is faster fast-er than sound. 'Echo' Caught On Radar Receiver Perhaps at this point we ouRht to recall to your minds what an electron Is. A short definition of an electron is "the most elementary charge of negative electricity." Electrons plus protons (the positive charge) are what atoms are made of and atoms are what molecules are made of and you and I and the universe and all it contains are, as we learned in high school, nothing but various groups of molecules. veyor makes these calculations by observation from two known points. And you don't have to be an engineer en-gineer to do it either it is done automatically by a lightning calculator. calcu-lator. I have stood in awe before these calculating machines, which can "think" more accurately and a thousand times faster than I could figure, and watched how they direct the aim of the turret, waist and tail guns on a B-29. As I said In last week's article, the enemy has radar, too. The Germans Ger-mans were working on it with investigation in-vestigation and experiment which paralleled ours and those of the British. Brit-ish. In the early days of the war the Germans had receiving sets on high hills along the coast of France. The electron beam, like that of television, tele-vision, moves in a straight line and since the surface of the earth is curved, this curve gets in the way if the image and receiving set are too far apart. Therefore, land sets are placed as high in the air as possible. We knew that the Germans had some kind of an electronic device and they knew we had one. One of the early commando raids, which the papers said was successful in destroying a German "radio station,'' sta-tion,'' really destroyed the radar installation. in-stallation. Poke Out Japa' 'Eyeu' One of the reasons why Iwo Jlma and Okinawa were so important, besides be-sides the fact that they make excellent ex-cellent naval and air bases, is because be-cause the Japs had their radar detection de-tection stations on these islands and were able to detect the presence of our bombers and Intercept their (light. You will also recall that a number of little adjacent islands that hardly seemed of any importance impor-tance were seized by our troops. In all probability it was because they had radar installations which could detect and give warning of planes leaving the larger island for Japan As we put out her "eyes" one after another. Japan becomes more impotent. There have been many cases, you may have noticed, where the Japs, on land or on small ships, have been taken by surprise. I have no information on this subject, sub-ject, but in some cases it may have been due to the fact that they Ordinarily electrons pursue the even, if rapid, tenor of their ways well within the bounds of their own atoms. But radar has changed all that. It has made it possible to project those electrons out into space and then, if they hit something some-thing and bounce back, to catch the "echo" on the "scope " of the radar set in the form of a "blip" or blob of light. We can't go into detail as to how this operation takes place, but we can tell you in a general way. The scope of the radar set is round. It Is like a map. North at the top, south at the bottom; east to the rignt and west to the left. So that you will know where you are a little light appears on the screen just where your set is located on the "map" you are looking at. By moving mov-ing the Instrument, you can keep rrti ircalf ill tV-iA m i rlJ 1 a if trui i c it a lacked radar equipment. It is believed be-lieved that what radar knowledge Japan has came from the Germans. Of course, there is one phase of radar detection which in the past has sometimes prevented use of data concerning the detection of a plane or ship. That is the fact that until the object is very close it cannot can-not be identified. It is merely a "blip" of light. Therefore, it is Impossible Im-possible to tell friend and enemy apart. Some sort of identification has been developed, details of which are still, I believe, "top secret." An example of how this worked to the disadvantage of the British was in the engagement in which HMS Hood was lost. On May 21, 1941, the Hood was lying in the strait between be-tween Iceland and Greenland when ! suddenly out of nowhere she was hit by a salvo from the 15-inch J JUUlOCU ass Li i . iiiimtn ti JUU 3vt another spot of light on the screen up where 12 o'clock would be on your watch dial, you know there is a plane lor other object) north of you. If it should be a plane and it were coming toward you (which the Instrument would reveal) and it finally appeared right on top of the light that showed your location, you'd know that there was going to be a collision. Radar can "see" a ship 30 miles away- and see It in the dark, through a wall of cloud or mist, which no human sight could pene-tate. pene-tate. Different substances give stronger or weaker "echoes" on your screen, water little or none. Land more, built-up areas more than fields. Rocks more than softer surfaces. In addition to locating an object In relation to the observer (the location loca-tion of the radar set), the distance from the object can be calculated by the length of time It takes for the electrons to reach the object and bounce back. The elevation (angle of height from observer) and the deflection (how far to the right or left) are calculated just as a sur- guns of the powerful Bismarck. The Bismarck had accurately located the Hood with radar equipment; the first reported successful use of redar in such a naval operation in the war. It is said that the Hood had likewise detected the presence of a ship at the spot where the Bismarck Bis-marck was. but knowing that a number of friendly warships were in the vicinity, did not dare to take the chance of attacking first. Many improvements have been made in radar which are not as yet ready for the public eye and all say the study is only in its infancy. Scientific achievement seems limitless limit-less and the one virtue of war is that it spurs inventive genius to great strides of progress. When peace comes radar will likewise open new vistas of whicn the layman hardly dreams. a a Harry Truman didn't want to be vice president. James Byrnes didn't ask to be made secretary of state. Neither wanted to mix into international inter-national affairs but they found themselves on the same boat en route to Germany. |