RADAR was one of those inventions that they thought was completely revolutionary, and it was, but was far less “unique” than the creators originally believed.
The large air and naval search arrays all over southern England had been spotted by the Germans even before the war and they accurately worked out what they were for and reverse engineered them purely from reconnaissance photographs.
The special thing about the RAF at the time was that they’d managed to make units small enough to fit on board planed which was the big advantage they hid as being carrots.
Funny story, so convinced were the British that the concept of RADAR couldn’t have been copied by Germany that when they surveyed the Graf Spee while in dock at Montevideo, with the RADAR antennas, identical to those on British and American ships clearly visible they still didn’t believe the Germans could develop the technology.
“How is the RAF so incredibly good at spotting German planes at night and in the fog?”
don’t say radar don’t say radar don’t say radar “ummm yes… its carrots. Carrots, lots of carrots, that’s it! Its because they… um… improve eyesight.”
It’s funny that for an ‘average’ person at that time a carrot theory was satisfying enough to stop looking for other explanation, ie technology based.
It’s not that it was a satisfying theory, it’s that it was misinformation spread by the propaganda machine at the time.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/carrots-cant-help-you-see-in-the-dark-heres-how-world-war-ii-propaganda-campaign-popularized-the-myth-28812484/
Nutrition was and remains to be poorly understood
RADAR was one of those inventions that they thought was completely revolutionary, and it was, but was far less “unique” than the creators originally believed.
The large air and naval search arrays all over southern England had been spotted by the Germans even before the war and they accurately worked out what they were for and reverse engineered them purely from reconnaissance photographs.
The special thing about the RAF at the time was that they’d managed to make units small enough to fit on board planed which was the big advantage they hid as being carrots.
Funny story, so convinced were the British that the concept of RADAR couldn’t have been copied by Germany that when they surveyed the Graf Spee while in dock at Montevideo, with the RADAR antennas, identical to those on British and American ships clearly visible they still didn’t believe the Germans could develop the technology.
Good Lord, what is happening in there?
Uh… Carrots?
Carrots? At this time of night?
In this fog?
At this distance?
Localized entirely around the island of England?
…yes
May I try some?
…no