On This Day – 1937

On the 17th August in 1937, airborne radar was tested for the first time off the coast of Bawdsey. This equipment, developed at RAF Bawdsey, was packed into an Avro Anson aircraft and turned on over the sea in an attempt to track nearby test aircraft. Although this was unsuccessful, the radar system found ships off the Felixstowe coast, leading to the development of Air-to-Surface-Vessel radar (ASV) that proved vital in detecting enemy ships and submarines that were attempting to attack shipping convoys during the Battle of the Atlantic.

Want to learn more about radar and the men and women who operated it? Visit Bawdsey Radar!