Fun fact: during WWII, the British figured out a way to jam German radar by dropping bales of metal-coated plastic strips (called “chaff” or “Window”), but they held off on using it for more than a year because they didn’t want the Germans to figure out the secret and start using the same trick on their radar. Meanwhile, the Germans had also figured out this technique, but they also held out on using it because they didn’t want the British to get it.
My favorite part of this was Klein-Heidelberg, a German passive radar system that used the broadcasts from Britain’s Chain Home radar stations to precisely locate Allied bomber formations. The Allies knew about it but kept Chain Home operational because they wanted German fighters to come up after the bombers - and get shot down.
Fun fact: during WWII, the British figured out a way to jam German radar by dropping bales of metal-coated plastic strips (called “chaff” or “Window”), but they held off on using it for more than a year because they didn’t want the Germans to figure out the secret and start using the same trick on their radar. Meanwhile, the Germans had also figured out this technique, but they also held out on using it because they didn’t want the British to get it.
The Battle of the Beams is a highly interesting and often overlooked detail of WW2.
My favorite part of this was Klein-Heidelberg, a German passive radar system that used the broadcasts from Britain’s Chain Home radar stations to precisely locate Allied bomber formations. The Allies knew about it but kept Chain Home operational because they wanted German fighters to come up after the bombers - and get shot down.