The Secrets of Radar Museum is a small museum located at 2155b Crumlin Sideroad near the London International Airport in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Opened to the public in 2003, the museum was created to tell the story of the more than 6,000 Canadian

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

veterans who were recruited into a top-secret project during

involving

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

. Drawn from every walk of life, and sent around the world, these veterans were held to an Oath of Secrecy that was not fully lifted until 1991. The museum is an incorporated not-for-profit museum located in London, Ontario.

Mandate

The Museum's mandate is threefold: # To preserve the history and artifacts of the men and women who have served the RADAR division of the Canadian Military # To educate the public on the history of RADAR in Canada # To provide a therapeutic setting for veterans

About the Museum

During World War II, at the request of the British government, over 6,000 Canadians were trained on RADAR and sent to every theatre of war. Subject to the Official Secrets Act, which expired after 50 years, it was only in 1991 that these men and women were able to share their experiences.Grande, George Kinnear, Canadians on Radar: Royal Canadian Air Force, 1940-1945 Canadian radar personnel were a crucial part of the war effort and the Secrets of Radar Museum preserves and shares their history. Many of these early radar veterans went on to have leadership roles in the development of radar during the Cold War and in the Canadian electronics industry.

Collection

The Museum's collection includes several thousand photographs, as well as original

equipment. While most World War II-era radar equipment has long since been destroyed, the Museum has examples of GEE, Fishpond,

H2X H2X, officially known as the AN/APS-15, was an American ground scanning radar system used for blind bombing during World War II. It was a development of the British H2S radar, the first ground mapping radar to be used in combat. It was also kno ...

, IFF (Identify Friend or Foe) radars, along with

magnetron The cavity magnetron is a high-power vacuum tube used in early radar systems and currently in microwave ovens and linear particle accelerators. It generates microwaves using the interaction of a stream of electrons with a magnetic field while ...

vacuum tubes A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied. The type known as a ...

(known as ''valves'' in England) and several hundred personal artifacts of various types. The Museum is also home to a substantial library and archive available to researchers, and numerous oral history interviews with radar veterans.

Programs

The museum offers curriculum-linked school programs related to history, geography, and science & technology for students in Grades 5 to 12.

Events

The museum is an annual participating site in Doors Open London and in 2012 was listed as one of the city's Top Ten sites.

Plans

Since moving to its new location in the summer of 2017, it has opened its exhibit on Cold War radar history, including DEW Line (Distant Early Warning) and

Pinetree Line The Pinetree Line was a series of radar stations located across the northern United States and southern Canada at about the 50th parallel north, along with a number of other stations located on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Run by North Ame ...

radar history. The museum is also planning to develop a travelling exhibition about Cold War radar and the experiences of the people working in the field. In 2017, the museum received funding from the

Virtual Museum of Canada The Digital Museums Canada (DMC; , ''MNC'') is a funding program in Canada "dedicated to online projects by the museum and heritage community," helping organizations to build digital capacity. Administered by the Canadian Museum of History (CMH) ...

to develop a web-based exhibit about London, Ontario's radar history. The project is underway with completion set for the first half of 2018.

Affiliations

The Museum is affiliated with: CMA, OMMC, CHIN, and

References

External links

The Secrets of Radar Museum

{{coord, 42.9519, N, 81.2214, W, display=title Radar Museums in London, Ontario Military and war museums in Canada History museums in Ontario World War II museums in Canada Aerospace museums in Ontario