AMES radar units overseas

Discussion in 'The War In The Air' started by Fatboy Coxy, Aug 27, 2019.

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  1. Fatboy Coxy

    Fatboy Coxy Junior Member

    Hi all

    I’m trying to understand what British radar units were in use overseas and their capabilities, especially around 1940-42. Searching on the web, I find a variety of sites offering their take on it all, but they seem to raise more questions than answer for me.

    They deployed COL (Chain Overseas Low), which was a version of Britain’s home defence CHL (Chain Home Low), with I think had a capability of identifying an aircraft at 500 feet, 25 miles out. I’m not sure of the height of the towers they used, or of what construction, but the units were deployed in permanent locations.

    However, it’s a bit murkier for me with the overseas version of CH (Chain Home). The two designations I’ve found used are TRU and MRU.

    TRU (Transportable Radio Unit) seems to be a version of CH, but could be broken down for transportation, but I can’t really be sure of that, or its performance

    MRU (Mobile Transportable Radio Unit) is, I think, mounted on the back of a Crossley IGL3 truck, and may be a latter mark of the TRU, and I think had a 100-foot mast that could be erected relatively quickly. Again, performance is something I’m very unsure of.

    If anyone out there can shine a bit of light, I’d be grateful

    Regards
    Fatboy Coxy
     
  2. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

    I dug out my copy of Canadians on Radar in South East Asia 1941-1945 to see what it said.
    The following is from Appendix II AMES: Air Ministry Experimental Stations
    A: Ground stations types
    Not sure if this adds much to your search

    EDIT: book is available here with author's permission: Canadians on Radar in South East Asia 1941 - 1945

    For a wider range of radar use see the site's main page: The Canadians on Radar

    I also have a very indepth book on Malta's radar, Malta's Early Warning System During WW2 which goes very indepth and gets quite technical but does have some great pictures. I'll see if I can dig it out and post some.

    Malta's Early Warning System during World War II
    Book charts Malta’s role in radar ‘magic’
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2019
  3. Juha

    Juha Junior Member

  4. Rob Stuart

    Rob Stuart Junior Member

    Greetings from Ottawa,

    A few years ago I wrote an article titled "Air Raid Colombo, 5 April 1942: The Fully Expected Surprise Attack". It can be viewed at https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/AA/00/ ... l-2014.pdf, starting on page 33. I am currently writing a revised and expanded edition of it and plan to include the attached 1941 photo. It shows the interior of a van belonging to AMES 259, which was a MRU unit. Could anyone confirm if the following caption would be accurate:

    This image shows the interior of the receiver van. The airman closest to the camera plots the contacts reported by the operators behind him and “tells” (reports) the plots to a distant operations room using the hands-free telephone set he is wearing.

    Thanks very much,

    Rob

    259van.jpg
     
  5. gmyles

    gmyles Senior Member

    Hi

    You could try the air defence radar museum at Neatishead.

    index

    Gus
     
  6. Tom OBrien

    Tom OBrien Senior Member

    Rob,

    It might be a quibble, but are they not "beside" him rather than "behind" him?

    Regards

    Tom
     
  7. Rob Stuart

    Rob Stuart Junior Member

    Gus, thanks for the tip. I will be contacting the museum shortly.
     
  8. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    You may have a problem as they are closed for the duration of the current crisis
     
  9. Tom OBrien

    Tom OBrien Senior Member

    Rob,

    Just read your article that you linked and now very much looking forward to seeing an expanded version of it. As well as the details of the raid itself, I've been reading around the grand strategy of early 1942 and had missed the importance assigned to reinforcing Ceylon by British so thanks for alerting me to that.

    In addition, my great uncle arrived in Ceylon (as it was then) in Jan 43 and commanded an AMES unit (several I think, still researching) so this is particularly interesting to me.

    Regards

    Tom
     

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