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W. A. S. Butement
William Alan Stewart Butement (18 August 1904 – 25 January 1990) was a New Zealand-born British-Australian defence scientist and public servant. A native of New Zealand, he made extensive contributions to radar development in Great Britain during World War II, served as the first chief scientist for the Australian Defence Scientific Service, then ended his professional career with a research position in private business. Early life Alan Butement was born at Masterton, New Zealand, the son of New Zealand-born William Butement, physician and surgeon, and his English-born wife Amy Louise Stewart. When Alan was age eight, the family moved to Sydney, where he started at The Scots College. After a year, the family moved again, this time to London, England. He graduated from University College School and then studied at University College, University of London, where he attended lectures by Edward Victor Appleton and received the BSc degree in physics in 1926. He followed this as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chief Defence Scientist
The Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) is part of the Department of Defence (Australia), Australian Department of Defence dedicated to providing science and technology support to safeguard Australia and its national interests. The agency's name was changed from Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) on 1 July 2015. It is Australia's second largest government-funded science organisation after the CSIRO and its research outcomes have enhanced Defence capability and supported operations for over 100 years. The #Chief Defence Scientist, Chief Defence Scientist leads DSTG. The position is supported by an independent Advisory Board with representatives from defence, industry, academia and the science community. DSTG has an annual budget of approximately $440 million and employs over 2500 staff, predominantly scientists, engineers, IT specialists and technicians. DSTG has establishments in all Australian states and the Australian Capital Territory with repre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkhas, and 28,330 volunteer reserve personnel. The modern British Army traces back to 1707, with antecedents in the English Army and Scots Army that were created during the Restoration in 1660. The term ''British Army'' was adopted in 1707 after the Acts of Union between England and Scotland. Members of the British Army swear allegiance to the monarch as their commander-in-chief, but the Bill of Rights of 1689 and Claim of Right Act 1689 require parliamentary consent for the Crown to maintain a peacetime standing army. Therefore, Parliament approves the army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years. The army is administered by the Ministry of Defence and commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. The Brit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chain Home Low
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 . 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. The system had originally been developed by the British Army's research group, also based at Bawdsey, as a system for detecting enemy shipping in the English Channel. It was built using the electronics being developed for the Airborne Interception radar systems, which worked on the 1.5 m band. This high-frequency (200 MHz), for the era, allowed it to use smaller antennas that could be swung back and forth to look for returns, in contrast to the enormous fixed anten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of The Philippine Sea
The Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944) was a major naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War. The battle was the last of five major "carrier-versus-carrier" engagements between American and Japanese naval forces, and pitted elements of the United States Navy's Fifth Fleet against ships and aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Mobile Fleet and nearby island garrisons. This was the largest carrier-to-carrier battle in history, involving 24 aircraft carriers, deploying roughly 1,350 carrier-based aircraft. The aerial part of the battle was nicknamed the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot by American aviators for the severely disproportional loss ratio inflicted upon Japanese aircraft by American pilots and anti-aircraft gunners. During a debriefing after the first two air battles, a pi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kamikaze
, officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to destroy warships more effectively than with conventional air attacks. About 3,800 ''kamikaze'' pilots died during the war, and more than 7,000 naval personnel were killed by ''kamikaze'' attacks. ''Kamikaze'' aircraft were essentially pilot-guided explosive missiles, purpose-built or converted from conventional aircraft. Pilots would attempt to crash their aircraft into enemy ships in what was called a "body attack" (''tai-atari'') in aircraft loaded with bombs, torpedoes and or other explosives. About 19% of ''kamikaze'' attacks were successful. The Japanese considered the goal of damaging or sinking large numbers of Allied ships to be a just reason for suicide attacks; ''kamikaze'' was more accurate than conventional attacks and often cau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
V-1 Flying Bomb
The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug and in Germany as (cherry stone) or (maybug). The V-1 was the first of the (V-weapons) deployed for the terror bombing of London. It was developed at Peenemünde Army Research Center in 1939 by the at the beginning of the Second World War, and during initial development was known by the codename "Cherry Stone". Because of its limited range, the thousands of V-1 missiles launched into England were fired from V-1 flying bomb facilities, launch facilities along the French (Pas-de-Calais) and Dutch coasts. The Wehrmacht first launched the V-1s against London on 13 June 1944, one week after (and prompted by) the successful Operation Overlord, Allied landings in France. At peak, more than one hundred V-1s a day were fire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proximity Fuse
A proximity fuze (or fuse) is a Fuze (munitions), fuze that detonates an Explosive material, explosive device automatically when the distance to the target becomes smaller than a predetermined value. Proximity fuzes are designed for targets such as planes, missiles, ships at sea, and ground forces. They provide a more sophisticated trigger mechanism than the common contact fuze or timed fuze. It is estimated that it increases the lethality by 5 to 10 times, compared to these other fuzes. Background Before the invention of the proximity fuze, detonation was induced by direct contact, a timer set at launch or an altimeter. All of these earlier methods have disadvantages. The probability of a direct hit on a small moving target is low; a shell that just misses the target will not explode. A time- or height-triggered fuze requires good prediction by the gunner and accurate timing by the fuze. If either is wrong, then even accurately aimed shells may explode harmlessly before reaching ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tizard Mission
The Tizard Mission, officially the British Technical and Scientific Mission, was a British delegation that visited the United States during WWII to obtain the industrial resources to exploit the military potential of the research and development (R&D) work completed by the UK up to the beginning of WWII, but that Britain itself could not exploit due to the immediate requirements of war-related production. It received its popular name from the programme's instigator, Henry Tizard. Tizard was a British scientist and chairman of the Aeronautical Research Committee, which had propelled the development of radar. The mission travelled to the US in September 1940 during the Battle of Britain. They intended to convey a number of technical innovations to the US to secure assistance in maintaining the war effort. Objectives The objective of the mission was to cooperate in science and technology with the U.S., which was neutral and, in many quarters, unwilling to become involved in the war. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lobe Switching
Lobe switching is a method used on early radar sets to improve tracking accuracy. It uses two slightly separated antenna elements to send the beam slightly to either side of the midline of the antenna. The radar signal switched between the two and produced two "blips" on the display. By comparing the lengths of the blips, the operator could find which one gave the stronger return, thereby indicating which direction the antenna should be moved to point directly at the target. The concept was used only briefly, and was almost completely replaced by conical scanning systems by the end of World War II. The concept is also infrequently referred to as sequential lobing, particularly when the signal steps between several different angles rather than just two. Description Early radar antennas generally consisted of a number of small dipole antennas in front of a passive reflector. The dipoles were placed in order to have them constructively interfere in front of the antenna, thereby "aimi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dipole
In physics, a dipole () is an electromagnetic phenomenon which occurs in two ways: *An electric dipole deals with the separation of the positive and negative electric charges found in any electromagnetic system. A simple example of this system is a pair of charges of equal magnitude but opposite sign separated by some typically small distance. (A permanent electric dipole is called an electret.) *A magnetic dipole is the closed circulation of an electric current system. A simple example is a single loop of wire with constant current through it. A bar magnet is an example of a magnet with a permanent magnetic dipole moment. Dipoles, whether electric or magnetic, can be characterized by their dipole moment, a vector quantity. For the simple electric dipole, the electric dipole moment points from the negative charge towards the positive charge, and has a magnitude equal to the strength of each charge times the separation between the charges. (To be precise: for the definition of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coastal Defence And Fortification
300px, Castillo San Felipe de Barajas in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, an example of an Early Modern coastal defense Coastal defence (or defense) and coastal fortification are measures taken to provide protection against military attack at or near a coastline (or other shoreline), for example, fortifications and coastal artillery. Because an invading enemy normally requires a port or harbour to sustain operations, such defences are usually concentrated around such facilities, or places where such facilities could be constructed. Coastal artillery fortifications generally followed the development of land fortifications, usually incorporating land defences; sometimes separate land defence forts were built to protect coastal forts. Through the middle 19th century, coastal forts could be bastion forts, star forts, polygonal forts, or sea forts, the first three types often with detached gun batteries called "water batteries". Coastal defence weapons throughout history were heavy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bawdsey Manor
Bawdsey Manor stands at a prominent position at the mouth of the River Deben close to the village of Bawdsey in Suffolk, England, about northeast of London. Built in 1886, it was enlarged in 1895 as the principal residence of Sir William Cuthbert Quilter. Requisitioned by the Devonshire Regiment during World War I and having been returned to the Quilter family after the war, it was purchased by the Air Ministry for £24,000 in 1936 to establish a new research station for developing the Chain Home RDF (radar) system. RAF Bawdsey was a base through the Cold War until the 1990s. The manor is now used by PGL for courses and children's holidays. There is a small museum in the radar transmitter block. History Quilter period: 1886 to 1936 Bawdsey Manor was built in 1886 and enlarged in 1895 by William Quilter who was an art collector, one of the founders of the National Telephone Company, and was Liberal/Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament for Sudbury. He established a steam- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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