Wuerzburg radar

From Freepedia

Wuerzburg-Riese radar
Image:Douvresradar1.jpg
Country of origin	Germany
Introduced	1941
Number built	circa 1500
Range	up to 70 km (44 mi)
Diameter	7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)
Azimuth	0-360º
Altitude	0-90º
Precision	±15 m (49 ft 2½ in)

The Wuerzburg radar was deployed by Germany during World War II. It took its name from the city of Würzburg for no other reason than the project leader liked geographical names.

Development started as a private venture by Telefunken before the war. Under the direction of Dr. Wilhelm Runge, the company's lab director, development was advanced enough that by July 1939, it led to a demonstration of a practical gun-laying radar to the Wehrmacht. The military were impressed and had it put into production.

The Wuerzburg went into service in 1940 and over 3,000 of all variants were built.

The initial "Würzburg A" model used a steerable paraboloid dish antenna to focus on targets. It operated in the range of 54 to 53 cm (553 to 566 MHz) - an extremely short wavelength for the time - with a pulse length of 2 microseconds, a peak power of 7 to 11 kW, and a PRF of 3,750 Hz. Range was about 29 kilometers (18 miles).

The next production model, the "Würzburg C", added lobe switching for greater accuracy; while the definitive "Würzburg D" (introduced in 1941) featured conical scanning, using an offset receiver feed called a "Quirl" that spun at 25 Hz. "Würzburg B" was an experimental version fitted with an infra-red detector.

A larger, more accurate adaptation of the Wuerzburg design was produced under the designation "Würzburg-Riese" ("Giant Wuerzburg"). This had a more powerful transmitter with a range of up to 70 kilometers (44 miles), and was adapted for operation from a railway carriage as the "Würzburg-Riese-E". The "Würzburg-Riese Gigant" was a very large version with a 160 kW transmitter, which never entered production.

A Wuerzburg system at Bruneval on the coast of France was attacked by British Paratroopers in Operation Biting. The electronics of the system were brought back to Britain for examination so that counter measures could be devised. The British technicians who examined it were impressed by the modularization for the system, which aided fault location. As a consequence the German maintenance technicians did not require the same level of electronics knowledge which the British technicians had to have to maintain British equipment.