

Briefcase 'that changed the world' (2007) - hessenwolf
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6331897.stm

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hangonhn
If you're interested in topics like this, check out Paul Kennedy's "Engineers
of Victory". It basically talks about how the road to victory in WWII were a
number of operational and technological challenges that needed to be solved.

[http://www.amazon.com/Engineers-Victory-Problem-Solvers-
Turn...](http://www.amazon.com/Engineers-Victory-Problem-Solvers-Turned-
ebook/dp/B004J4WNMG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408653723&sr=8-1&keywords=engineers+of+victory)

~~~
hga
I don't know, the 1 star reviews like this one:
[http://www.amazon.com/review/R2TK8WK4POCIF3/ref=cm_cr_rdp_pe...](http://www.amazon.com/review/R2TK8WK4POCIF3/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1400067618)
make me view it with suspicion.

While it's not of the same scope, I can recommend R. V. Jones' _Most Secret
War_ without reservation: [http://www.amazon.com/Most-Secret-Wordsworth-
Military-Librar...](http://www.amazon.com/Most-Secret-Wordsworth-Military-
Library/dp/185326699X/)

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alricb
And yet, they couldn't develop an anti-mortar radar in time for D-day.

~~~
hga
If not, they were close behind, e.g.
[http://nigelef.tripod.com/tgtacqcb.htm#Radar](http://nigelef.tripod.com/tgtacqcb.htm#Radar)

Wikipedia tells us why those were initially Anti-Aircraft (AA) radars:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-
battery_radar#History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-
battery_radar#History)

" _The first radars were developed for anti-aircraft purposes just before
World War II. These were soon followed by fire control radars for ships and
coastal artillery batteries. The latter could observe the splashes of water
from missing shots, enabling corrections to be plotted. Generally the shells
could not be seen directly, as they were too small and rounded to make a
strong return, and traveled too quickly for the mechanical antennas of the era
to follow.

Radar operators in light anti-aircraft batteries close to the front line found
they were able to track mortar bombs. This was likely helped by the fins of
the bomb producing a partial corner cube that strongly reflected the signal.
These accidental intercepts led to their dedicated use in this role, with
special secondary instruments if necessary, and development of radars designed
for mortar locating. Dedicated mortar-locating radars were common starting in
the 1960s and were used until around 2000._"

