The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
Oslo, Norway. C. 1945-08. These photographs show how, with the aid of radar "magic eye" apparatus known as H2S, Allied bombers were able to pin-point their targets and bomb with maximum effect and accuracy through dense cloud or in complete darkness. H2S relies for its operation on the discovery that a beam of short-wave electric energy is "echoed" back to its point of origin in varying degrees of intensity by objects on the ground. Water gives no echo, and the strongest come from built-up areas such as towns and cities. From the installation in the aircraft is transmitted a beam of radar waves: the returned echo passes through various stages and finally appears on the face of a cathode ray tube in the form of a map. How accurate these "echo" maps are is clearly shown in these photographs, in which the appropriate map sections appear alongside the maps recorded by H2S. Enemy shipping at Oslo. The coastal area can be compared quite easily with a map of the same area. It can be seen that no echoes are received from the water, but that the presence and location of shipping is indicated by quite strong "echoes" or "blips".
An H2S radar image taken from a cathode ray tube display monitor on board a Mosquito aircraft of 139 Pathfinder Squadron RAF. The aerial view, from 23000 feet, shows the areas affected by fires after
An H2S radar image taken from a cathode-ray tube display monitor on board a Mosquito aircraft of 139 Pathfinder Squadron RAF. The aerial view, from 20000 feet, shows the areas affected by fires after
An H2S radar image taken from a cathode-ray tube display monitor on board a Mosquito aircraft of 139 Pathfinder Squadron RAF. The aerial view, from 25000 feet, shows the areas affected by fires after
An H2S radar image taken from a cathode-ray tube display monitor on board a Mosquito aircraft of 139 Pathfinder Squadron RAF. The aerial view, from 24000 feet, shows the areas affected by fires after
An H2S radar image taken from a cathode-ray tube display monitor on board a Mosquito aircraft of 139 Pathfinder Squadron RAF. The aerial view, from 23000 feet, shows the areas affected by fires after
An H2S radar image taken from a cathode-ray tube display monitor on board a Mosquito aircraft of 139 Pathfinder Squadron RAF. The aerial view, from 24000 feet, shows the areas affected by fires after
