The Germans were aware of Radar visibility. And I think had more experience with radar than you realize. The idea of the war being fought as a purely kinetic event with optical sights and guts is not very accurate at all.Roger wrote:Right, so what are the odds that a Horton flew thru air defense radar areas, demonstrating reduced cross section?ladajo wrote: It is also known the the Germans did have their own air defense radar, as well as knew the brits did.
Some googling reveals:
Northrop's 1/3 scale versions flew all over California for a year or two. I'm not sure that radar was installed in the area at the time. Certainly Pearl Harbor had Radar Sept '41.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=ca ... 5GhFzncaxw
Early US radar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCR-270
German radar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freya_radar
Neat picture of the MX-324
http://members.tripod.com/airfields_fre ... Mojave.htm
SO it may be that not until the full size Northrop wings flew at Edwards did Radar and the wing meet.
OTOH This website shows early SCR-270 & SCR-271 installed '42 '43
http://www.northamericanforts.com/East/masouth.html
And this might be the jack pot. These 2 bases were close together, about 95 miles SSE of Muroc.
Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion 554th
Located: July 1942, March Field, California
Signal Aircraft Warning Regiment 504th
Activated: 11 December 1941, Camp Haan, California
More info at
http://www.mobileradar.org/army_units_501_561.html
Van Nuys, Fresno, Oakland, Estrella, San Fran all had early units
And the Bingo moment
Company C
Deployed: January 1944, for training Muroc Army Air Base, California, and attached to 592nd SAW Bn for exercise.
Redesignated: 16 May 1944, Company C, 595th SAW Battalion
http://www.mobileradar.org/army_units_562_599.html#top
The N-1M first flew in July of '41 N-9M first flew in Dec '42. So it is possible these planes flew thru early radar.
From page 45 of the below linked pdf:
http://www.radarworld.org/radarwar.pdfS44.2 “Sumpf, Schornsteinfeger.” German Submarine Camouflage
Several procedures are tried to prevent detection by radar of those parts of the submarine that
are above the water surface.
In most cases measures that are supposed to disperse received signals are selective and difficult
to put into practice for a greater range of wave lengths.
Fall 1944
Overlays of absorbing materials, e.g., rubber with deposited semiconductor materials are more
promising. If the layer is thick enough, they are effective not only at short but also at long waves
lengths as shown by a test flight with a 1.50m ASV radar at the German Aeronautic Research
Institute (DVL). At this test the submarine could be detected only by jamming with a “Metox”
warning receiver.