Ever wonder what happened to the radar set that detected the Japanese aircraft before the raid on Pearl Harbor? This article reveals the fate of that SCR-270 radar set; describes some of the radar development background; and includes typical results of a World War II command, control and communications system that used the SCR-270 as its backbone radar. The SCR-270 was a radio-echo detection and direction finding set for locating aircraft. It operated by transmitting a short-duration pulse of high frequency radio waves, which would be reflected or re-radiated by any metallic or conducting surface within the field of the directive transmitting antenna; therefore, one or more aircraft within the antenna field appeared as a source of reflected radio waves. Rotating the antenna which also served as the receiving antenna, provided a means for determining the azimuth or direction of aircraft. The system measured the time it took a blip or reflected return from the target to appear on a cathode ray tube indicator, to give the distance or range to the detected aircraft. The maximum range of the radar was about 250 miles up to 50,000 feet under all atmospheric conditions including rain, mist, smoke or fog, and during daylight or darkness. The azimuth and range data supplied by the set permitted the plotting of the location of detected aircraft on maps. Major performance characteristics of the radar are provided in the included table.<>


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    The untold Pearl Harbor radar story


    Contributors:
    West, C.P. (author)


    Publication date :

    1994-04-01


    Size :

    387160 byte




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Untold Pearl Harbor Story

    West | Online Contents | 1994


    APT : the untold story

    Clough, David N. | SLUB | 2016


    Pearl Harbor Papers

    Goldstein | Online Contents | 1994


    Forerunner of Pearl Harbor

    Igor V. Yurin / Artem A. Gonchar | DOAJ | 2016

    Free access

    Advance Force Pearl Harbor

    Burlinghame | Online Contents | 1994