2 Questions: P-38L Rear Radar/"Phantom P-38"

In article ,
"Keith Willshaw" writes:

"Stephen Harding" wrote in message
...
Keith Willshaw wrote:

Tail warning radars were extensively fitted in late ww2
The AN/APS-13 was made for fighters. This was a
low-power pulse radar set, operating that flashed a
red light and rang a bell when an enemy
aircraft was approaching from the rear.

They were fitted to later model P-51D's , P-38L's,
P-47D's and P-61's

Never heard of this for all these aircraft. Never even
heard of it for aircraft during the Korean War.

Did it actually work?


Apparently it did.

A bit too well, in fact. The radar didn't scan or sweep - it just
tansmitted and received a fan-shaped beam behind the airplane. It
rang its alarm whenever _anything_ entered that fan. The ground,
birds, you own wingman... people were going nuts reacting to the high
rate of false alarms, so most systems were deactivated or removed.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster

"Peter Stickney" wrote in message
news
In article ,


A bit too well, in fact. The radar didn't scan or sweep - it just
tansmitted and received a fan-shaped beam behind the airplane. It
rang its alarm whenever _anything_ entered that fan. The ground,
birds, you own wingman... people were going nuts reacting to the high
rate of false alarms, so most systems were deactivated or removed.


It was rather more useful on night fighters and bombers I imagine
since they typically operated alone, although the Germans did
manufacture a passive receiver to home in on RAF tail
warning radars IRC

Keith

Keith Willshaw wrote:

"Peter Stickney" wrote in message
news
In article ,


A bit too well, in fact. The radar didn't scan or sweep - it just
tansmitted and received a fan-shaped beam behind the airplane. It
rang its alarm whenever _anything_ entered that fan. The ground,
birds, you own wingman... people were going nuts reacting to the high
rate of false alarms, so most systems were deactivated or removed.


It was rather more useful on night fighters and bombers I imagine
since they typically operated alone, although the Germans did
manufacture a passive receiver to home in on RAF tail
warning radars IRC

"Flensburg." In addition to the beaconing problem, ISTR that RAF bomber
pilots disliked Monica just as much as the U.S. fighter pilots disliked
APS-13, and for the same reason, constant false alarms. Aftert all, there
you are cruising along in the bomber stream with the damned thing going off
every few minutes, if not constantly.

Guy

"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
...

"Peter Stickney" wrote in message
news
In article ,


A bit too well, in fact. The radar didn't scan or sweep - it just
tansmitted and received a fan-shaped beam behind the airplane. It
rang its alarm whenever _anything_ entered that fan. The ground,
birds, you own wingman... people were going nuts reacting to the
high
rate of false alarms, so most systems were deactivated or removed.


It was rather more useful on night fighters and bombers I imagine
since they typically operated alone, although the Germans did
manufacture a passive receiver to home in on RAF tail
warning radars IRC


Tail warning radars substantialy reduced the looses of German night
fighter crews though only the elite crews were given it.

The German Radars with an "R" designation had tail warning radar
extensions of the main radar. Thus the FuG 218 SN-2R had one as well
as slightly broader frequencies to improve jame resistance marginally
and also the Naxos ZR or FuG 217 which was liked by the crewas
becuase it was quite resistent to jaming and windows.

Often the best warning of an Mosquito was a clicking in the FuG 16
radio, presumably due to the radar pulses of the powefull magnetron.






Keith