Post by Diarist on Oct 19, 2015 13:50:15 GMT 1
We were expecting Professor Tizard at 10 o'clock so I had a chance to speak with General Gort about my 'vacation' beforehand. How much can I tell Sally? Obviously I can't tell her about the Italian operation so what can I tell her? He called her into his office and she was told that we would be looking for any unusual preparations in NW Italy, taking photos while pretending to be on our honeymoon, and she can opt out if she wishes. She said that she would be glad to help and that she understands the potential danger. Topic finished, until we get home.
As for Prof. Tizard, we are hoping to gain him as an ally but we don't know how good his relationship is with the Air Ministry. He arrived punctually and I brought him to AVM Freeman's office - CPT Wales was already there. After introductions, etc., he asked about our mystery aircraft. We again explained that it is a privately financed project which we are supporting and that it is still in the concept/design phase. It's a multi-role aircraft and we believe that one aircraft that can perform six roles is more cost-efficient than six individual designs to perform each individual role. We are looking to make maximum the use of our limited resources, cut training costs for flying and ground support personnel, simplify production of spare parts, etc. The good news is that he bought it - we didn't mention anything about wooden aircraft.
We then changed the conversation to his speciality - RADAR. We explained our philosophy of giving defensive systems priority because we don't have right technology yet for high performance offensive systems. We need to be able to defend ourselves against superior numbers of German aircraft, the U-Boat threat and their armour formations. There are a couple of promising fighter designs almost at prototype level both using the Rolls Royce engine but the fighters need advanced warning. That got him going! An interesting conversation followed and he was in his element.
RADARs on towers along the coast are only needed to detect incoming aircraft flying at low level, but these towers would be prime targets and very vulnerable. Once they are gone we would be blind again. We discussed building dummy towers to attract the enemy's attention and using 'airborne' RADAR to do the actual detection. Unfortunately we need more time for that because not only because current systems are too large and heavy but also the power required. We also discussed RADAR detection. If aircraft were able to detect the source of a RADAR beam it would be easier to neutralize the enemy's defences. It was a fun discussion, he even talked about intelligent bombs which automatically correct their flight-path to ensure a direct hit.
General Gort joined us and over lunch he comprehensively explained TRADOC's role and that we were hoping to work closer with scientists. Prof. Tizard agreed that we could both benefit from more consultation. I believe that we got somewhere. We parted after lunch so now I can start thinking about our vacation. I have many things to organize and I am sure that Sally will have a few questions this evening.
As for Prof. Tizard, we are hoping to gain him as an ally but we don't know how good his relationship is with the Air Ministry. He arrived punctually and I brought him to AVM Freeman's office - CPT Wales was already there. After introductions, etc., he asked about our mystery aircraft. We again explained that it is a privately financed project which we are supporting and that it is still in the concept/design phase. It's a multi-role aircraft and we believe that one aircraft that can perform six roles is more cost-efficient than six individual designs to perform each individual role. We are looking to make maximum the use of our limited resources, cut training costs for flying and ground support personnel, simplify production of spare parts, etc. The good news is that he bought it - we didn't mention anything about wooden aircraft.
We then changed the conversation to his speciality - RADAR. We explained our philosophy of giving defensive systems priority because we don't have right technology yet for high performance offensive systems. We need to be able to defend ourselves against superior numbers of German aircraft, the U-Boat threat and their armour formations. There are a couple of promising fighter designs almost at prototype level both using the Rolls Royce engine but the fighters need advanced warning. That got him going! An interesting conversation followed and he was in his element.
RADARs on towers along the coast are only needed to detect incoming aircraft flying at low level, but these towers would be prime targets and very vulnerable. Once they are gone we would be blind again. We discussed building dummy towers to attract the enemy's attention and using 'airborne' RADAR to do the actual detection. Unfortunately we need more time for that because not only because current systems are too large and heavy but also the power required. We also discussed RADAR detection. If aircraft were able to detect the source of a RADAR beam it would be easier to neutralize the enemy's defences. It was a fun discussion, he even talked about intelligent bombs which automatically correct their flight-path to ensure a direct hit.
General Gort joined us and over lunch he comprehensively explained TRADOC's role and that we were hoping to work closer with scientists. Prof. Tizard agreed that we could both benefit from more consultation. I believe that we got somewhere. We parted after lunch so now I can start thinking about our vacation. I have many things to organize and I am sure that Sally will have a few questions this evening.