Research leading to RDF technology in the United Kingdom was begun by
Sir Henry Tizard's Aeronautical Research Committee in
early 1935, responding to the urgent need to counter German bomber attacks.
Robert A. Watson-Watt at the
Radio Research Station, Slough, was asked to investigate a radio-based "death ray". In response, Watson-Watt and his scientific assistant,
Arnold F. Wilkins, replied that it might be
more practical to use radio to detect and track enemy aircraft. On
26 February 1935, a preliminary test, commonly called the
Daventry Experiment, showed that radio signals reflected from an aircraft could be detected. Research funds were quickly allocated, and a development project was started in
great secrecy on the
Orford Ness Peninsula in Suffolk.
E. G. Bowen was responsible for developing the
pulsed transmitter. On
17 June 1935, the research apparatus successfully detected an aircraft at a distance of
17 miles. In
August, A. P. Rowe, representing the Tizard Committee, suggested the technology be code-named
RDF, meaning
Range and Direction Finding.
In
March 1936, the
RDF research and development effort was moved to the
Bawdsey Research Station located at
Bawdsey Manor in Suffolk. While this operation was under the
Air Ministry, the
Army and Navy became involved and soon initiated their own programs.
At Bawdsey, engineers and scientists evolved the RDF technology, but
Watson-Watt, the head of the team, turned from the
technical side to
developing a practical machine/human user interface. After watching a demonstration in which operators were attempting to locate an "attacking" bomber, he noticed that the
primary problem was not technological, but information management and interpretation. Following
Watson-Watt's advice, by
early 1940, the RAF had built up a
layered control organization that efficiently
passed information along the chain of command, and was able to
track large numbers of aircraft and direct interceptors to them.
Immediately after the war began in
September 1939, the
Air Ministry RDF development at Bawdsey was temporarily relocated to
University College, Dundee in Scotland. A year later, the operation moved to near
Worth Matravers in Dorset on the
southern coast of England, and was named the
Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE). In a
final move, the TRE relocated to
Malvern College in Great Malvern, Worcestershire.
During
WW2, the Malvern College premises were requisitioned by the
Admiralty between
October 1939 and July 1940, and the school temporarily relocated to
Blenheim Palace. In
1942, its premises were again needed for governmental use, on this occasion by the
TRE and, from
May 1942 to July 1946, the school was housed with
Harrow School.
QinetiQ, a private sector successor to the government's original research facility, is still sited on former college land.
The
Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) was the main
United Kingdom research and development organization for
radio navigation,
radar,
infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the
Royal Air Force (RAF) during
WW2 and the years that followed. It was regarded as "the most brilliant and successful of the English wartime research establishments" under "Rowe, who saw more of the English scientific choices between 1935 and 1945 than any single man."
The name was changed to
Radar Research Establishment in 1953, and again to the Royal Radar Establishment in 1957. This article covers the precursor organizations and the Telecommunications Research Establishment up to the time of the name change. The later work at the site is described in the separate article about
RRE.
Some of the major RDF/radar equipment used by the Air Ministry is briefly described. All of the systems were given the official designation
Air Ministry Experimental Station (AMES) plus a Type number; most of these are listed in this link.
