One Saturday evening in the early 1960s our dinner bridge group assembled at the home of Dee and Claude Wilmuth. The bar was open, accompanied by an assortment of cocktail snacks. Claude announced that he had another snack to offer and invited us to witness its creation in his new $600 corn popper. He had satisfied Dee’s longing for a microwave oven but at this point had only mastered the techniques of popping corn and producing nachos. The Radar Range, first introduced as a cooking method in 1952 at around $1300, was now more affordable at the $600 level.

Two Birmingham University scientists, Sir John Randall and Dr. H. A. Boot, perfected Radar to detect German aircraft during the Battle of Britain and in cooperation with US scientists advanced it to become the most sophisticated detection device to come out of Word War II. Radar became airborne on every B29 in the 20th Air Force and made possible the night napalm raids on Japanese industrial centers and daylight bombing of targets obscured by 10/10-cloud cover. It was also an efficient navigation tool, providing fixes in seconds, bouncing off and recovering azimuth and distance signals from targets enroute. The heart of Radar was the magnetron, which produced the ultra high frequency microwave signal.

The magnetron became the subject of continuing research and Dr. John Spencer of Raytheon was in the process of a test in 1946. He took a break and reached for a chocolate bar in his pocket only to discover that it had turned to chocolate syrup. This was puzzling since neither the room temperature nor body heat could have caused the bar to melt. Could energy from the magnetron be the cause? In searching for the answer he placed some unpopped corn in front of the magnetron tube. The kernels popped and arced to the floor. This experiment gave rise to a peacetime application of a wartime tool and revolutionized food preparation.

Airborne Radar was a highly classified program in WWII Trainees at the Boca Raton AFB did not mention the word “Radar”, were not allowed to bring writing material into the classroom, and were issued no written material on operation of the system. Everything was committed to memory. In time Radar Observers constructed their own files from technical orders from the manufacturer and releases developed at the Operations level. There were constant charges that all the material in our possession was top secret and should be guarded accordingly. On the intercom the Radar position was dubbed “Mickey”. The word “Radar” was not to be used lest it be broadcast in error.

The early trainees were almost all non commissioned officers, mostly gunners who had attained a high level of flying experience. The policy changed early in the program. It was determined that the operators of the system would be rated navigators or bombardiers to utilize fully the potential of this weapon. Most Radar Observers in the 20th were commissioned navigators who became specialists in Radar Navigation and Bombing. The Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) designation was HAB/BTO, which stood for “High Altitude Bombardment/Bomb Through Overcast”. It took on an added meaning among the crews, “High Altitude Bookkeeper/Big Time Operator”. Many enlisted personnel kept their jobs as Radar Operators. In fact, the Radar Operator on the Enola Gay was Sgt. Joseph S. Stiborik.

Leaving Mather Field for Hickham on Oahu in March 1945 the Radar was set at a range of 100 nautical miles. My attention was focused on the California coastline behind us. I took one last fix before it vanished from the screen. Within a short time I began to receive echoes on the screen that resembled small islands. There were no landmasses on the route so I went forward and looked in the direction of the signals. I soon realized I was picking up the bases of moisture-laden clouds.

On a mission late in our tour this capability worked against us. On turning at the IP the aiming point on the screen looked nothing like it was supposed to. The bombardier reported heavy thunderstorms in the direction we were headed. I realized they were producing echoes over the target area, altering the radar image. I drew an imaginary line from unobstructed coastline left and right of the aiming point and trusted that our drift calculation was correct. The strike photos showed excellent results so it worked. We trusted our ability to beat the weather so much that there was no alternate target designated. Radar could detect soft spots in front lines allowing us to alter course and pass through them with minimum turbulence. We were only able to do this on the way back to base. On the way to the target, a strict course and airspeed had to be flown to space us properly over the target.

Over the years I had hoped to find some Radar Scope photos of a bomb run. It wasn’t until mid 2002 that they became available. Captain Ralph Weston learned of the 39th Bomb Group Association web site and furnished a series of nine scope photos of a bomb run against the City of Nishinomiya, located on a neck of land between Kobe and Osaka. The raid took place in the last hour of August 5 and the first hour of August 6, 1945. Captain Weston was the Airplane Commander of Crew P41, 62nd Squadron, 39th Bomb Group, 314th Wing.

By today’s standards the procedure we used must be regarded as primitive. The Korean War saw the introduction of smart bombs making our way obsolete. However it was a state of the art tool in Air Offensive Japan 1945.

It is a part of History and worth preserving. I have found little or nothing at all on this subject in libraries and web sites. The availability of the scope photos has motivated me to record this contribution to the conclusion of World War II. This account is constructed almost entirely from memory. Readers are encouraged to correct and add to the information presented.

Radar Compartment

Radar Scope and Image