Pix Of The Day: Radar From Suffolk To Tibet
CREDITS: © Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Imaging Radar/NASA
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Today's image shows the mountains of southeast Tibet, acquired by SIR-C/X-SAR (Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar). The early development of radar (radio detection and ranging) was driven by a British response to the perceived threat of German airborne attacks in the years leading up to World War II. The 'Father of Radar' was Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, and the first operational installations were made at Bawdsey south of Shingle Street, visited in yesterday's feature.

American soldier Gardner L. Friedlander has many memories of the early years of radar, and received training at Bawdsey. The development of the first operational radar defense system, called Chain Home, and its final destruction (strangely undated on that page, but was scheduled for 21 Sept 2000), can be read in depth in a series on Dick Barrett's Radar Pages web site. Visitors who seek historical balance will want to read American authored 'Deflating British Radar Myths Of World War II' by Major Gregory C. Clark (PDF format). One of the spoils of war is that the victors get to write the history, often at the expense of the truth.

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