Uncategorized – `Radar Families'

Tracing my Father’s story – RADAR

The final edited version of Anne Diamond’s fascinating documentary on RADAR made in association with http://www.viking.tv. Please leave your comments here and don’t forget to let others know so you can help spread the word.

Saturday March 20 2021

Thanks to everyone for the most amazing response to the launch of the website, and my asking for stories and anecdotes and pictures. Plus I’ve heard from those of you who already have an historic interest and have written books and run websites that mark this amazing radar story. And about the people- parents and…… Continue reading Saturday March 20 2021

Barry Symonds shares his story

My (not particularly exciting) story is simply that during the nineteen eighties, on several occasions I escorted a number of teenage apprentices on visits to an adventure experience trip to Dorset. One of the centres that we used had a large display board on the wall explaining that the building had been used to examine…… Continue reading Barry Symonds shares his story

Sheila Crosby remembers Andrew (Andy) Smart

Sheila Crosby writes: – Hi Anne. My dad was Andrew (Andy) Smart. He was conscripted to join TRE in 1943, cutting short his studies at Glasgow University. He arrived on the train with two other Scots – Allan Young and Alex Young. He was to work on Airborne Intercept and H2S Navigation and Bombing Radar.…… Continue reading Sheila Crosby remembers Andrew (Andy) Smart

Remembering Geoff Tootill

Peter Tootill writes: – Hi Anne, My father also worked on radar at TRE during the war. His name was Geoff Tootill (he died in 2017). I don’t remember him mentioning Jimmy Diamond but I expect they would have known each other. Dad worked on Beaufighter radar (AI Mk VIII, I seem to remember) and…… Continue reading Remembering Geoff Tootill

Heroes of a different hue.

Where I grew up, me and my friends knew that it wasn’t carrots that made you see in the dark. It was radar. We knew it was a wartime myth made up by Churchill to protect the lives of our very families in WW2. Because it was our dads, and also many mums, who developed…… Continue reading Heroes of a different hue.

And what about the Americans?

BRILLIANT BOFFINS! -the extraordinary, brainy, and often oddball men and women of Malvern. There were lots of them in Malvern from time to time, because of the huge US camp (near Hanley Swan?) My mother became briefly engaged to a handsome young US Army captain, a medical student working in a MASH unit, who took…… Continue reading And what about the Americans?

Does anyone remember this chap?

BRILLIANT BOFFINS! -the extraordinary, brainy, and often oddball men and women of Malvern One well-known scientist was an ordinary family bloke during the week but dressed very bizarrely at weekends and used to walk through the town with a shopping basket on his head and his children tethered by rope behind him. As you’d probably…… Continue reading Does anyone remember this chap?

Karen Burt (nee Hilsum) – Brilliant Boffin

BRILLIANT BOFFINS! -the extraordinary, brainy, and often oddball men and women of Malvern The story of radar and Malvern isn’t just about the men though – there were many brilliant women too. One such was Joan Cullen, who invented “WINDOW”. (The Americans later dubbed it “chaff”). One of my best friends at Hillside school was…… Continue reading Karen Burt (nee Hilsum) – Brilliant Boffin

Joan Curran – Brilliant Boffin

BRILLIANT BOFFINS! -the extraordinary, brainy, and often oddball men and women of Malvern The story of radar and Malvern isn’t just about the men though – there were many brilliant women too. One such was Joan Cullen, who invented “WINDOW”. (The Americans later dubbed it “chaff”). She got a BSc from Cambridge before they ever…… Continue reading Joan Curran – Brilliant Boffin