Air Ministry Experimental Station

Last updated

AMES, short Air Ministry Experimental Station, was the name given to the British Air Ministry's radar development team at Bawdsey Manor (afterwards RAF Bawdsey) in the immediate pre-World War II era. The team was forced to move on three occasions, changing names as part of these moves, so the AMES name applies only to the period between 1936 and 1939.

Contents

Although used as a name by the team itself only briefly, the AMES acronym became the basis for naming Royal Air Force radar systems through the war. The same numbering sequence was used after the war as well, but often dropped the AMES from the name. A good example is the Type 80, which was officially AMES Type 80, but often appears without that marque. Many post-war systems were also assigned a rainbow code and are better known by that name.

The AMES numbering scheme was often ad hoc, with some entries simply being other sets operating together. For instance, the Type 21 was simply a Type 13 and Type 14 in a single vehicle convoy. In other cases Types differ only in minor details, like the Type 31 through 34, which are the same radars mounted in various ways. They are also often out-of-order; the Type 8 was the prototype for the Type 7.

Equipment

Mobile units

Mobile radar units, usually consisting of COL, GCI, or similar equipment, mounted in vehicles, was used extensively overseas, and these units received numerical designations preceded by 'AMES', e.g., AMES 1505 – one of the units providing GCI coverage of the Naples sector during the Allied invasion of Italy. [1]

Fighter Direction Tenders

Three Landing Ship, Tank (LST) were converted into "Fighter Direction Tenders" (FDT), swapping their landing craft for Motor Launches [2] and outfitted with AMES Type 11 and Type 15 fighter control radar to provide GCI coverage for air defence of the D-Day landing areas. Of these ships, FDT 216 was stationed off Omaha and Utah beaches, FDT 217 was allocated Sword, Juno, and Gold beaches. FDT 13 was used for coverage of the overall main shipping channel. In the period 6 to 26 June Allied fighters controlled by the FDTs resulted in the destruction of 52 enemy aircraft by day, and 24 enemy aircraft by night. [3]

Post-War

Post World War II in addition to the AMES Type XX designation new equipment was also allocated a Rainbow Code name during development, e.g., AMES Type 86 was allocated the code name Blue Anchor. In addition, the manufacturing company, Ferranti, had its own internal and marketing name for the equipment, in this case, Firelight.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ROTOR</span> 1950s British air defence radar system

ROTOR was an elaborate air defence radar system built by the British Government in the early 1950s to counter possible attack by Soviet bombers. To get it operational as quickly as possible, it was initially made up primarily of WWII-era systems, notably the original Chain Home radars for the early warning role, and the AMES Type 7 for plotting and interception control. Data from these stations was sent to a network of control stations, mostly built underground, using an extensive telephone and telex network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RRH Saxa Vord</span> Royal Air Force air defence radar on Unst, Shetland, Scotland, United Kingdom

Remote Radar Head Saxa Vord or RRH Saxa Vord, is a Royal Air Force radar station located on the island of Unst, the most northern of the Shetland Islands in Scotland. As of July 2019 it is once more a fully operational radar station, after closure in 2006. The station's motto Praemoneo de Periculis reflects its role. RAF Saxa Vord is further north than Saint Petersburg in Russia, and on the same latitude as Anchorage, Alaska. The station was named after Saxa Vord, which is the highest hill on Unst at 935 ft (285 m). It holds the unofficial British record for wind speed, which in 1992 was recorded at 197 mph (317 km/h) — just before the measuring equipment blew away.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ground-controlled interception</span> System for intercepting hostile aircraft

Ground-controlled interception (GCI) is an air defence tactic whereby one or more radar stations or other observational stations are linked to a command communications centre which guides interceptor aircraft to an airborne target. This tactic was pioneered during World War I by the London Air Defence Area organization, which became the Royal Air Force's Dowding system in World War II, the first national-scale system. The Luftwaffe introduced similar systems during the war, but most other combatants did not suffer the same threat of air attack and did not develop complex systems like these until the Cold War era.

The Rainbow Codes were a series of code names used to disguise the nature of various British military research projects. They were mainly used by the Ministry of Supply from the end of the Second World War until 1958, when the ministry was broken up and its functions distributed among the forces. The codes were replaced by an alphanumeric code system.

Linesman/Mediator was a dual-purpose civil and military radar network in the United Kingdom between the 1960s and 1984. The military side (Linesman) was replaced by the Improved United Kingdom Air Defence Ground Environment (IUKADGE), while the civilian side (Mediator) became the modern public-private National Air Traffic Services (NATS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chain Home Low</span> British early warning radar system during World War II

Chain Home Low (CHL) was the name of a British early warning radar system operated by the RAF during World War II. The name refers to CHL's ability to detect aircraft flying at altitudes below the capabilities of the original Chain Home (CH) radars, where most CHL radars were co-located. CHL could reliably detect aircraft flying as low as 500 feet (150 m). The official name was AMES Type 2, referring to the Air Ministry Experimental Station at Bawdsey Manor where it was developed, but this name was almost never used in practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Bempton</span> Royal Air Force base in Yorkshire, England

Royal Air Force Bempton or more simply RAF Bempton is a former Royal Air Force station situated at Bempton in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, 6 miles (10 km) north of Bridlington. During the Second World War it was established as a radar station, becoming part of the Chain Home Low (CHL) network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Ventnor</span> Former RAF radar station on the Isle of Wight

Royal Air Force Ventnor or more simply RAF Ventnor is a former Royal Air Force radar station located 0.7 miles (1.1 km) north east of Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, England. It was initially constructed in 1937 as part of a World War II coastal defence programme codenamed Chain Home. The site played an important role during the Second World War, providing early warnings of incoming bomber attacks carried out by the Luftwaffe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RRH Trimingham</span>

Remote Radar Head Trimingham or RRH Trimingham is a former TPS-77 radar station situated on the coast in the English county of Norfolk. The site is located on the coast road between Cromer and Mundesley, 1 kilometre east of the village of Trimingham but the activity has now moved to RRH Neatishead due to the threat from coastal erosion. The radar station was a satellite station of RAF Neatishead. This radar station was controlled and maintained by a section of Radar Technicians and Operators and supported by a team of Ground Engineers. Trimingham provided extensive coverage of the East coast of the United Kingdom and helped contribute to the recognised air picture and defence of the United Kingdom. The type 93 became operational on the site in April 1997.

Radar in World War II greatly influenced many important aspects of the conflict. This revolutionary new technology of radio-based detection and tracking was used by both the Allies and Axis powers in World War II, which had evolved independently in a number of nations during the mid 1930s. At the outbreak of war in September 1939, both the United Kingdom and Germany had functioning radar systems. In the UK, it was called RDF, Range and Direction Finding, while in Germany the name Funkmeß (radio-measuring) was used, with apparatuses called Funkmessgerät . By the time of the Battle of Britain in mid-1940, the Royal Air Force (RAF) had fully integrated RDF as part of the national air defence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Type 277 radar</span>

The Type 277 was a surface search and secondary aircraft early warning radar used by the Royal Navy and allies during World War II and the post-war era. It was a major update of the earlier Type 271 radar, offering much more power, better signal processing, new displays, and new antennas with greatly improved performance and much simpler mounting requirements. It allowed a radar with performance formerly found only on cruisers and battleships to be fitted even to the smallest corvettes. It began to replace the 271 in 1943 and was widespread by the end of the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMES Type 82</span> Cold War-era British medium-range 3D radar

The AMES Type 82, also widely known by its rainbow codename Orange Yeoman, was an S-band 3D radar built by the Marconi Company and used by the Royal Air Force (RAF), initially for tactical control and later for air traffic control (ATC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMES Type 80</span> Cold War-era British early warning radar

The AMES Type 80, sometimes known by its development rainbow code Green Garlic, was a powerful early warning (EW) and ground-controlled interception (GCI) radar developed by the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) and built by Decca for the Royal Air Force (RAF). It could reliably detect a large fighter or small bomber at ranges over 210 nautical miles, and large, high-flying aircraft were seen out to the radar horizon. It was the primary military ground-based radar in the UK from the mid-1950s into the late 1960s, providing coverage over the entire British Isles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMES Type 85</span> Cold War-era British early warning radar

The AMES Type 85, also known by its rainbow code Blue Yeoman, was an extremely powerful early warning (EW) and fighter direction (GCI) radar used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as part of the Linesman/Mediator radar network. First proposed in early 1958, it was eleven years before they became operational in late 1968, by which time they were already considered obsolete. The Type 85 remained the RAF's primary air defense radar until it was replaced by Marconi Martello sets in the late-1980s as part of the new IUKADGE network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMES Type 7</span>

The AMES Type 7, also known as the Final GCI, was a ground-based radar system introduced during World War II by the Royal Air Force (RAF). The Type 7 was the first truly modern radar used by the Allies, providing a 360 degree view of the airspace around the station out to a distance of about 90 miles (140 km). It allowed fighter interceptions to be plotted directly from the radar display, a concept known as ground controlled intercept, or GCI.

The AMES Type 84, also known as the Microwave Early Warning or MEW, was a 23 cm wavelength early warning radar used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as part of the Linesman/Mediator radar network. Operating in the L-band gave it improved performance in rain and hail, where the primary AMES Type 85 radar's performance dropped off. It operated beside the Type 85 and RX12874 in Linesman, and moved to the UKADGE system in the 1980s before being replaced during UKADGE upgrades in the early 1990s.

Martello is a family of phased array radar systems developed by Marconi Electronic Systems in the 1970s and introduced operationally in the early 1980s. They provided long-range early warning capabilities but also had the accuracy needed for interception plotting and "putting on" of other weapons systems like surface-to-air missiles. The name comes from the Martello towers that provided defence in earlier years.

The HF200 is a height finder radar designed and first built by Decca Radar in 1957, and continuing sales into the 1970s after the division was purchased by Plessey in 1965. It was one of the company's successful heavy radar projects, winning the contract for many of the ROTOR stations in the UK and additional sales around the world with a total production run of about 40 examples. These served into the 1980s, and in one case, 1993, before 3D radars removed the need for separate height-finders.

The AR-3D was a military air traffic control and early warning radar developed by Plessey and first produced in 1975. It used a pencil beam and simple frequency scanning system known as "squint scan" to produce a low-cost 3D radar system that was also relatively mobile. About 23 were produced in total and found sales around the world into the early 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cresswell radar station</span> Former RAF radar station in Northumberland, England

Cresswell radar station, was a Chain Home Low Second World War radar site at Cresswell, in Northumberland, England. The radar site was south of the village of Cresswell on the road towards Lynemouth and each site occupied a different side of the road. The site was opened by early 1940 and was staffed by Royal Air Force personnel from No. 60 Group, who were accommodated at Lynemouth instead of being billeted at the radar site. Cresswell radar site was known to be poorly located as it did not have enough of a significant elevation above sea level to provide sufficient warning of approaching aircraft. Since closure c. 1945, both sites have been demolished and nothing remains of either site.

References

Notes
  1. Linden, R. F. (2014). "The Italian Campaign: The Invasion of the South of France, 1943–1945" (PDF). Canadians on Radar: Royal Canadian Air Force 1940–1945 . Retrieved 25 November 2014.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  2. Rottman, Gordon L.; Bryan, Tony & Sarson, Peter (2005). Landing Ship, Tank (LST) 1942–2002. Osprey Publishing. p. 47. ISBN   978-1-84176-923-3 . Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  3. Macaulay, Horace R. (2014). "Ground Controlled Interception Radars In Operation Neptune/Overlord" (PDF). Canadians on Radar: Royal Canadian Air Force 1940–1945 . Retrieved 25 November 2014.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  4. "New-look radars selling well". Flight International. 9 October 1976. p. 1087.
  5. "AR327 Commander SL".
Bibliography