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. 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

* AMES Type 1,

Chain Home Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal Early Warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the off ...

(CH) – Early Warning * AMES Type 2, Chain Home Low (CHL) – Early Warning, low altitude * AMES Type 3, Type 1 and Type 2 operating in close proximity * AMES Type 4, Chain Overseas (CO), also known as Intermediate (ICH) * AMES Type 5, Chain Overseas Low (COL) * AMES Type 6, Light Warning Set * AMES Type 7, Final static Ground-controlled interception (GCI) station (Happidrome) * AMES Type 8, Various marks of GCI radars, mobile and semi-static * AMES Type 9, Mobile Chain Home * AMES Type 10, Mobile Air Transportable System * AMES Type 11, Type 8 adapted to work at 600 MHz in case 1.5 m CHL/GCI was jammed * AMES Type 12, Low Frequency transportable Chain Home Low. * AMES Type 13, 10 cm "Nodding" Height Finder. Transmitter and Receiver of Naval Type 277 – Marconi * AMES Type 14, 10 cm surveillance radar – Marconi * AMES Type 15, GCI radar, mobile version of Type 7 * AMES Type 16, Fighter Direction Station * AMES Type 17, Fighter Direction (abandoned) * AMES Type 18, CHL/GCI Modified Type 11 Mk2 (H) with height finding (abandoned) * AMES Type 19, GCI Final Standby Type * AMES Type 20, Decimetric Height Finder * AMES Type 21, Tactical Control. Five vehicle GCI convoy – Marconi * AMES Type 22, GCI / COL (similar to AMES Type 11) * AMES Type 23, LOMAN Overseas LORAN system * AMES Type 24, Long range 10 cm Height Finder * AMES Type 25, Experimental CHL * AMES Type 26, GCI British version of American MEW (

Microwave Early Warning Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency rang ...

) * AMES Type 27, Air Transportable GCI * AMES Type 28, CMH Air transportable Height Finder * AMES Type 29, CHEL ( Chain Home Extra Low) Air transportable (abandoned) * AMES Type 30, CD ( Coast Defence) / CHL (

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

only) * AMES Type 31, CHEL CD in wooden hut * AMES Type 32, CHEL CD – Nissen hut – none built * AMES Type 33, CHEL CD – brick built * AMES Type 34, CHEL CD 200 ft tower * AMES Type 37, CHEL CD * AMES Type 40, CD/CHL * AMES Type 41, CHEL * AMES Type 42, CHEL * AMES Type 43, CHEL * AMES Type 44, CHEL * AMES Type 46, CHEL * AMES Type 47, CHEL * AMES Type 48, CHEL * AMES Type 50, CHEL * AMES Type 70, a combination of Type 13, 14 and several other systems organized into a huge convoy of vehicles for mobile large-scale operations. Two such collections put together. * AMES Type 79, an

IFF Mark X IFF Mark X was the NATO standard military identification friend or foe transponder system from the early 1950s until it was slowly replaced by the IFF Mark XII in the 1970s. It was also adopted by ICAO, with some modifications, as the civilian ai ...

interrogator retrofit to some Type 7 stations during ROTOR * AMES Type 100, 20–80 MHz Transponder-based navigation system – GEE-H * AMES Type 700, 1.7–2.0 MHz Hyperbolic navigation system – LORAN * AMES Type 7000, 30–60 MHz Hyperbolic navigation system – GEE ground station * AMES Type 9000, 200 MHz transponder-based navigation system – Oboe Mk I ground station – Oboe Mk III, S band

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.

Fighter Direction Tenders

Three Landing Ship, Tank (LST) were converted into "Fighter Direction Tenders" (FDT), swapping their landing craft for Motor Launches and outfitted with AMES Type 11 and Type 15 fighter control radar to provide GCI coverage for air defence of the

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

landing areas. Of these ships, ''FDT 216'' was stationed off

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

and Utah beaches, ''FDT 217'' was allocated

Sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods *Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007 Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno'' *Ju ...

, 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.

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''. *

AMES Type 79 Ames may refer to: Places United States * Ames, Arkansas, a place in Arkansas * Ames, Colorado * Ames, Illinois * Ames, Indiana * Ames, Iowa, the most populous city bearing this name * Ames, Kansas * Ames, Nebraska * Ames, New York * Ames, Okla ...

– version of

IFF Mark 10 IFF Mark X was the NATO standard military identification friend or foe transponder system from the early 1950s until it was slowly replaced by the IFF Mark XII in the 1970s. It was also adopted by ICAO, with some modifications, as the civilian air ...

using separate antennas, used with upgraded AMES Type 7 *

AMES Type 80 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 f ...

, 2.850/3.050 GHz 1 MW

S-Band The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). Thus it crosses the conventional ...

Early Warning radar – a.k.a. Green Garlic – Decca – high performance system made ROTOR obsolete * AMES Type 81, version of the Type 80 intended for fighter direction, but never built. Role went to Type 80 Mark III instead. *

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

, 3 GHz 3D tactical control radar for Bristol Bloodhound – a.k.a. Orange Yeoman – Marconi * AMES Type 83, 4 GHz/10 GHz mobile tactical control radar for Bristol Bloodhound 1 – a.k.a. Yellow River, ''Stingray'' –

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, later Marconi * AMES Type 84, 1.2 GHz 2.5 MW L band surveillance radar, a.k.a. Microwave Early Warning, Blue Label – Marconi *

AMES Type 85 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 ...

, 2.75/3.2 5 GHz, 54 MW – a.k.a. Blue Yeoman, '' Linesman'' – AEI, later Marconi. q.v.

RX12874 RX12874, also known as the Passive Detection System (PDS) and by its nickname "Winkle", was a radar detector system used as part of the Royal Air Force's Linesman/Mediator radar network until the early 1980s. Winkle passed out of service along wi ...

a.k.a. ''Winkle'' * AMES Type 86, 10 GHz mobile CW target illuminator radar for Bristol Bloodhound 2 – a.k.a. Blue Anchor, ''Firelight'' – Ferranti * AMES Type 87, Bloodhound Mk 2 guidance control system a.k.a. ''Scorpion'' - some sources claim this was initially applied to the

Blue Joker Blue Joker was an experimental moored balloon-mounted, airborne early-warning radar project developed by the Royal Radar Establishment (RRE) starting in 1953. The idea was to position the radar high in the air in order to extend its radar horizon ...

balloon-borne radar, but there is no solid evidence of this and it was cancelled in 1960 before it proceeded to production and would have been assigned a number * AMES Type 88, 1.3 GHz/3 GHz Tactical Control/Surveillance radar – used in conjunction with AMES Type 89 – pair a.k.a. Green Ginger – Marconi * AMES Type 89, 3 GHz Tactical Control Height Finder – used in conjunction with AMES Type 88 – pair a.k.a. Green Ginger – Marconi * AMES Type 90, 1.3 GHz 3MW Early Warning/Fighter Control radar, Marconi ''Martello S713'' *

AMES Type 91 Ames may refer to: Places United States * Ames, Arkansas, a place in Arkansas * Ames, Colorado * Ames, Illinois * Ames, Indiana * Ames, Iowa, the most populous city bearing this name * Ames, Kansas * Ames, Nebraska * Ames, New York * Ames, Okla ...

, 1.3 GHz 132 kW Early Warning/Fighter Control radar – a.k.a., ''Martello S723'' * AMES Type 92, RAF name for

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AN/FPS-117 The AN/FPS-117 is an L-band active electronically scanned array (AESA) 3-dimensional air search radar first produced by GE Aerospace in 1980 and now part of Lockheed Martin. The system offers instrumented detection at ranges on the order of and h ...

* AMES Type 93,

Plessey AR-320 The AR-320 is a 3D early warning radar developed by the UK's Plessey in partnership with US-based ITT-Gilfillan. The system combined the receiver electronics, computer systems and displays of the earlier Plessey AR-3D with a Gilfillan-developed ...

* AMES Type 94,

Plessey AR-3D 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 w ...

* AMES Type 96, Marconi S649, dual-band 3/1.3 GHz 2D long-range early warning radar. Used at

RAF Saxa Vord Remote Radar Head Saxa Vord or RRH Saxa Vord (aka RAF 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 ...

paired with

Plessey HF200 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 co ...

height-finders. * AMES Type 99, Westinghouse

AN/TPS-43 The AN/TPS-43 is a transportable air search 3D radar produced in the United States originally by Westinghouse Defense and Electronic Division, which was later purchased by Northrop-Grumman. It is used primarily for early warning and tactical con ...

captured in Argentina * AMES Type 101, RAF name for the BAE Commander (formerly Plessy AR327) long-range radar.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * The history of ground radar in the UK during World War II * {{cite book , last1=Latham , first1=Colin , last2=Stobbs , first2=Anne , title=Radar A Wartime Miracle , publisher=Sutton , location=Stroud , year=1996 , isbn=0-7509-1643-5 , name-list-style=amp A history of radar in the UK during World War II told by the men and women who worked on it.

External links