Over the past month or so, I’ve uploaded some of pages about the different types of Japanese radar equipment. I’ve always tried to collect information about the more obscure, forgotten parts of WW2 technology. Before this I’ve also uploaded a bunch of pages about paints and more obscure bombs for example.
What exactly sparked this sudden interest I do not remember. Maybe an old photograph of an G4M’s Yagi antenna? Anyway I discovered that in fact very little information is readily available on the internet. Pretty much all the information can be traced back to this post on combinedfleet.com. It’s quite incomplete and doesn’t really give any sources. It also contains mistakes as far as my knowledge goes. There is no “FM-3” radar for example. Some 1946 US intelligence reports exists as well. However their information isn’t transcribed and thus, difficult to find unless you know what to look for.
Photographs
Over the course of this research, I’ve also uploaded a bunch of photo’s that aren’t readily available on the internet. Some of these pictures are rather low quality and I hope I can one day find the originals. They depict mostly bench installations of radar’s of which nobody knows any more what they looked like.
Is this information useful for the average modeller? No. There are some pictures of radar devices which might be useful for painting or scratch building but that’s it. Still, if information exists it should be available to everyone, and this website isn’t just for showing off my models. It also serves as a place where I can aggregate and present the forgotten parts of the 2nd world war. The parts overshadowed by luft ’46 and and the parts fallen into obscurity. Hopefully some can appreciate it.
I will continue to add radar types. Currently I haven’t even dipped my toes into the Army radar’s. But it’s a slow and tedious process to excavate this rabbit hole. In the future I do plan to expand this information with the missing types. Also I want to write more about the history of radar in general, and how it was used in combat.
-Emma
