The Secret Allied Wonder Weapon - WW2 Documentary Special

[@WorldWarTwo]

What do you think? World War Two brought us the atomic bomb, guided weapons, aircraft that fly higher and faster than ever before. What about the modern day: drones, AI, hypersonic missiles. All of these military advances have civilian applications which drive forward human progress and improve our lives. But can humanity be trusted? Are we setting ourselves up for a never ending arms race?

[@oldesertguy9616]

War has always accelerated technology, but leave it to humans to subvert and corrupt everything they lay hands on. There will always be another Hitler/Putin/Stalin around.

[@davidkinsey8657]

We are not setting ourselves up for a never-ending arms race. We have been in a never-ending arms race since the Bronze Age.

[@LugborG]

Almost three million years ago, a lemur picked up a rock, beginning an arms race that has continued through to modern day, and will continue until we’re gone (possibly after, depending on how advanced our AI and robotics development becomes). It’s something intrinsic to us as a species, to look at something and think not “this is good enough,” but “this can be better.” We will always strive to make things better, to take them to their logical conclusions and, seeing those conclusions as inadequate, push them further, into the realm of the illogical. Those tendencies have saved us in the past, and may well save us in the future. We are a species of builders, inventors, and mad apes.

[@leemichael2154]

@@LugborG where I wonder does the brain get their way to being so constructed?

[@johnsmitty7447]

been this way since we first smelted ores which could be used to make sharper and stronger edged weapons but also the tools that enabled civilization

[@michaelmorley7719]

One of the most ingenious parts of the proximity fuze was the battery. The radar unit in the shell couldn't be powered up until after it was fired or it would be set off by coming close to the cannon it was to be fired from, or the metal structure of the ship, or the truck it was loaded on to drive it to the front, or something else entirely, and if there was an off-on switch, it might get jostled in transit or the gunners might forget to throw the switch under the stress of battle. The proximity fuze was therefore designed to power itself up without human intervention. It used a lead acid battery, with the lead plates around the circumference of the fuze and the acid in a glass container in the middle. When the shell was fired, the glass broke. As the shell went up the barrel and engaged the rifling, it began to spin, and centrifugal effect threw the acid outward into the lead plates. By the time enough acid got deposited to generate enough current to power the radar unit, the shell was well past the end of the barrel.

[@shawnr771]

The glass was made from Christmas tree lights.

[@jobe_seed6674]

That’s absolutely one of the most genius engineering hurdles I’ve heard to have been over come by using physics. I mean besides the Atomic Bomb of course.

[@sinisatrlin840]

8:18 Proximity fuse with propeller in its nose and small generator (bicycle dynamo kind) was also build, mainly for larger shells. There are drowings on the net.

[@danielwillens5876]

Thank you for answering all my questions!

[@shawnr771]

@@danielwillens5876 It is definately an interesting design.

[@kriegerscavern]

Maybe the true Wunderwaffen, are the friends we made along the way?

[@GabrielAngeluos]

Do you mean the Double Cross system?

[@LittleBigKillzone]

I honestly know this for sure. We are more similar than most believe. Be honest and treat others as you would yourself, help if possible. And life will be easier and more positive and supportive. But it's easier said than done. We all make mistakes, and mistakes create life. Don't run away, run into the future.

[@ughettapbacon]

This is the comment of the entire War as far as I'm concerned.

[@MM22966]

And brought /invited/kidnapped back to our countries to keep our R&D ahead of those jerks on the other side of the Iron Curtain!

[@asianboywonder2312]

I'd say it was the nuclear weapons

[@Peepsuk1234]

My Grandfather was an AA gunner. He said when they got the AA shells with the proximity fuse they suddenly made flak extremely effective. He said they went from throwing up shells at night as almost guess work to actually decimating Luftwaffe raids with far fewer shells. Probably war winning

[@johndilday1846]

My dad was in a AAA gun battalion during the war and he remarked many years ago about how the shells combined with the radar made the gunnery so much more effective. I remember him once saying that it felt like they only needed a shell or two per German plane to take it out.

[@chaz706]

The math shows that AA with proximity fuses were 10 fold more effective at taking out enemy aircraft. That means a 90% decrease of Flak Shells used.

[@texanfournow]

My 7th cousin, Wm. Sterling "Deak" Parsons, had a large hand in the success of deploying proximity fuses. He was at the testing of the VT fuses in Jan. 1942 and reported the 52% success rate. He was asked by Admiral Halsey to take a set of VT fuses on board the cruiser Helena, and the rest, as they say is history. His work in the use of radar in war and the production of proximity fuses in large part led Vannevar Bush to recommend Deak Parsons to Gen. Groves, who assigned Deak to work closely with Oppenheimer on building the first atomic bomb. Deak designed the firing mechanism for Little Boy and was the weaponeer on the Enola Gay, the only Navy man on board. He crawled into the bomb bay after the Enola Gay departed Tinian, armed the bomb, and then approved the target and the dropping of the bomb.

[@PeteOtton]

Was he the guy who Adm. Lee made take the fuse apart so he could see how it worked? The same Admiral who issued orders that the Navy should acquire AA guns and then altered orders from should to will install them on ships. He also pushed to acquire RADAR units for ships, before he was ordered back to sea to lead the battleships in the Pacific.

[@texanfournow]

@@PeteOtton I would have to check sources. I do know that before VT fuses were even a thing, Deak Parsons was pushing radar for use at night and foggy conditions early on. In fact, the early iteration of radar use by the Navy was developed by two young Navy techs in the World Ware 1 era, but was rejected by Navy brass for 20+ years. Deak asked for $$ to develop microwave radar but was rejected--then ironically, it was Admiral King who backed Deak. Deak arranged a demonstration for top brass to see that they could destroy enemy ships at night and/or in poor weather. That demo, and the VT fuse deployment on the Helena, flipped the switch and catapulted Deak's reputation as a top ordnance expert. By the end of 1944, they were producing 40,000 VT fuses per day. By that time, Deak was Associate Director at Los Alamos, and Oppenheimer's right hand in terms of the actual construction of the bomb. When it was ready for deployment, Groves sent Deak to Tinian and said, ""Don't let Parsons get killed. We need him!" On Tinian, he was chief scientist and unofficially known as one of the "Three Joint Chiefs of Tinian" (along with Admiral Purnell and Gen. Farrell). Fun fact: after the war, Deak was promoted to Rear Admiral, the first to do so without ever having charge of a ship.

[@ingloriuspumpkinpie9367]

German wunderwaffe: this faster than normal plane sometimes doesn't melt the face of its pilots. Allied wunderwaffe: manufactured in the hundreds thousands, crushed armies each shortened the war by a considerable time.

[@porksterbob]

The allies also had jet planes.

[@gabrielcooper1248]

@@porksterbobthe face melting implies its the ME-163 which has a rocket not jet engines

[@MurderousEagle]

us military development had two modes: "with the new trucks and jeeps we can ship all those Fords to Russia and still completely eliminate horses" and USS Midway CV-41.

[@shaider1982]

German Wunderwaffe also shortened the war: by having the Germans waste resources on unproven tech instead of optimizing mass production of existing weapons.

[@ecophreak1]

I love Astrid and Anna's gestures, often while the other is talking, another excellent episode, although I feel like the technology of ww2 is another entire separate series

[@rskulas]

As an old field artillery officer who fired many a round with both time and VT fuses, I really appreciated the expository nature of your video.

[@jamesdunn9609]

The combination of fire control radar and proximity fuses gave the allies a massive advantage.

[@jasoncabral3831]

my grandfather worked on the SCR-584, the first really accurate mobile air search radar.

[@jannarkiewicz633]

My manager in 95 was Harold L Morton III. His grandfather (Harold L Morton V1) was offered a knightship by the king during WW II. He was part of the proximity fuze team. There was a PBS special that dropped his name a lot. To quote: A late adjunct to employment of the proximity fuze bomb was a special bomb director mechanism, which together with toss bombing, insured bringing the missile close enough to its target for maximum effect. The toss-bombing principle and basic design of the mechanism, the acceleration integrater bomb release, was first suggested by Col. Harold Morton of Army Ordnance in January 1943 and developed under Alexander Ellett at the Bureau.

[@neilwilson5785]

"let us talk about proximity fuses" OK, you have my full attention.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Hope you enjoyed this episode, thanks for watching!

[@chrishanson4025]

My dad used those shells in Italy in 44 and 45. He said they were pretty awesome, and way better than the mechanical time fuses they were using up to then. Better in the sence that they were more consistent.

[@FuzzyMarineVet]

I believe that Ernie King was not the obstruction to the adoption of VT fuses for the Navy. He appointed Willis Lee to cut through the red tape of the Bureau of Ordnance who were insistent that they would not be issued until their success rate was 100%.

[@Warmaker01]

The same Bureau of Ordnance that insisted nothing was wrong with the Mark 14 torpedo and that all faults were due to the men fighting overseas.

[@mattwoodard2535]

King was someone who liked and pushed technology so it seems odd that he would try to stop or slow down the VT fuse. But I can totally buy that Bureau of Ordnance WOULD cause trouble after the utter disaster that was the Mark 14 torpedo. And it would be no surprise if Admiral Lee probably understood the tech much better than the Board did and King sent him to clean up the mess. sm

[@PeteOtton]

I don't think Lee had much affect on the BurOrd adopting the VT fuse. He was already back at sea by then, leading the battleships. He did however appreciate what it was and insisted on taking one apart to see how it worked. I don't recall what his orders were about its use, probably broader than what BuOrd would have allowed. He issued orders to acquire 20 mm and 40 mm AA guns. BurOrd questioned his ability to issue such orders, which he had. He then altered a memo from BuOrd from might to will install the guns onboard ships. He also pushed to start procuring Radar sets, even suggesting to purchase them from the British if domestically produced units could not be procured.

[@bhuddy1832]

The self mixing batteries, which activated on the spin createdfrom being fired by a rifled barrel, and provided the electrical power, automatically turned on the radar signal and reciever in flight, made them practical to manufacture, easy to use (no need to "set" anything or activate anything, just load and shoot, and the shell "self activates" when the battery components are mixed by centrifical force), and yet safe to handle. The numerous developments by the physicist's working at the Radiation Lab actually "won the war", and the physicist's working at Los Alamos finally ended it.....

[@CrimsonTemplar2]

Excellent work Astrid, Ana, & team!

[@ScottySundown]

So crazy how things change. You used to be able to fly a thousand gigantic, super-slow planes over contested airspace. A few decades later you couldn’t even fly one small, super-fast (up to 4th Gen) plane over contested airspace. Rocketry and RADAR were just absolute paradigm changers.

[@allo-other]

12:26 Admiral Ernest King, aptly nicknamed Semper Iratus.

[@Grimmtoof]

This shows the difference between the Ailies and the Axis when it comes to super weapons. The allies use high technology to make straightforward practical weapons that work, while the axis focus on over engineered designs riddled with problems.

[@George_M_]

The B-29 was over engineered for a niche that didn't work, high altitude bombing over Japan was hopeless due to crosswinds. It cost more than The Bomb, and had incessant engine problems. Then was used to slaughter civilians. That's all pretty German-like.

[@Tuning3434]

To some extend, but economy of scale is such a huge factor. The Atomic Bomb could only be made in such short time-frame because of the huge industrial capabilities the US was able to implement. Even with the technology available, it took the UK quite a bit longer. I think there is a delusional factor in play where the Axis was OR focused on the immediate situation, OR the ideal end situation, and avoided the intermediate future because it too confronting that ideology was clashing with the real world they where dealing with. And only when situation got bad enough, certain elements got enough of a carde blanche to implement their changes (like Speer reforming the German industry, Von Braun with his rocket program, etc), which had spectacular results, under the circumstances they had to deal, but still way too late impact the war. In contrast where the Allied where willing to optimize the circumstances, to the intermediate needs.

[@GRB-tj6uj]

The Allies at one point also tried to turn bats into flying bombs so there's that

[@g8ymw]

How much is down to the political system. In a dictatorship, ideas come from the top down ( in the main) In a "democracy", ideas come from all over the place. Also, if you start off losing, desperation forces you to grasp at anything

[@Tuning3434]

@@GRB-tj6uj sure, and that didn't really got a lot further till some cooky tests and now being a source for 'did you know this silly idea was tested' for popular history, helped by the fact the allied where serious enough about it to document it, and their national archives weren't target of mass bombing so thier are some pictures and diagrams to make a nice content. In contrast the Axis where hesitant to plan further than 'obviously we win', and when it became basically impossible to fall back and fully support the wonderwaffles. Issue is, that support was 5 years to late. The V1/ V2 weapons are the grandfather of a lot of the modern military technology that would dominate in the '50s / '60s, but ideology made it difficult to get it implemented, because in order the get it properly funded, it would require to admit flaws in the current situation. This heavily contrasts the '30s buildup, where there was more freedom for industry to implement new technology, because there was no 'WE ARE BEST' base yet where ideology could fixate itself on.

[@shawnadams1965]

Yeah Astrid and Anna are back!

[@JB-pk3bz]

We "darlings" love Astrid and Anna right back!

[@neilwilson5785]

The combination of these two and a discussion of proximity fuses is a dream ticket to be sure!

[@deantheot7296]

wonderful presentation of a critical technical improvement. Ya'll make a good team.

[@jonnmostovoy2406]

This is my favorite part of the channel by far. I love everything, but... Espionage and intelligence work is just so amazing.

[@ZebraLens]

I wish I had these two wonderful ladies teaching me history back in high school. Astrid and Anna both give an amazing presentation as well as Spartacus and Indy. 💯👏 *Great Work!*

[@dallaswinston8260]

Not

[@alfnoakes392]

Interesting to hear about the options (audio-based etc) that did not make it through the research process, and had never heard about the seagull problem before ...

[@theblackbear211]

Another fine episode. Thank you all for your fine work.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@naveenraj2008eee]

Hi Astrid and Anne Awesome video. I learned a lot. Thanks

[@petersutcliffe4927]

Maybe not apt for the conversation but "poor Luftwaffe, want more money" struck me as quite humorous. Spot on!

[@TM-yn4iu]

Excellent presentation of historical facts, entertaining as well!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks for the comment and thanks for watching!

[@bertarndt9953]

As always, another informative show. And seeing Anna, always puts a smile on my face.

[@slatey2609]

Hell yes she is incredibly beautiful and I love the sense of humour as well ❤

[@bwarre2884]

I think the Tizard Mission was one of the most far-sighted, selfless and brave acts a country undertook in WW2. Britain gave away it's technolocical and scientific secrets to the US, which helped the USA to become the technologically most advanced country it is today. The British gave up their advantages to help the US make better weapons that the British had no capacity of making themselves in enough numbers. Besides the Proximity Fuse, the Tizard Mission gave the US, amongst others, the latest developments in nuclear research and also the Cavity Magnetron. The last is called the most valuable item ever brought to American shores.

[@nickdanger3802]

"selfless" Really ? Tech was traded for production. There was no formal cooperation on nukes until the Quebec Agreement of 1943. Cavity Magnetron had been developed a few months before Tizard "gave" it to the US and all they had were a few hand made prototypes. USA wrote off over 20 billion USD of Britain's Lend Lease debt in 1945.

[@mochaholic3039]

Cavity magnetron was an short-served and immediately useful creation but once the war ended, it fell out of favor no longer useful for powering radars as it's output oscillated and gave radars fluctuating read-outs. What powered America and allies's radars during the Cold War and even today, is the Klystron, a device invented in the USA in the 1930's by aviators whom were concerned about the inability to detect planes at range. Initially, the klystron was overlooked due to it's lower power output compared to the magnetron and thus the klystron gave the then primitive radar sets a shorter range. The magnetron's brute power output increased the radar's ranges. But as radar tech advanced and detection range increased, the magnetron wasn't up to task due to it's oscillating brute power mucking up radar signals, the klystron came back in prominence cause it gave much more direct and steady output and gave radars cleaner return resolutions. Nowadays magnetrons remain useful... heating up our foods in our microwaves.

[@amerigo88]

August 31, 1940 was less than two weeks before Eagle Day. That was supposed to be the last nail in the coffin for RAF Fighter Command at the peak of the Battle of Britain. I suspect Churchill was being realistic about British priorities regarding research and development. His people were more focused on the Sten gun than a proximity fuse that would require years of development. Sea Lion was the proximate threat at the time of the Tizard Mission.

[@petebeatminister]

Interesting subject. But I wish you would have mentioned, at least briefly, the achivements of the russiian scientist Leon Theremin. He worked on proximity fuses in the early 20s already, that were based on the influence of metal objects on magnetic fields. Of course not for small shells, but for sea mines and torpedos. Fun fact: his research resulted in the invention of the musical instrument Theremin in 1928, which could be called the first electronic instrument, and is popular to this day. Another interesting subject in the field of war related research would be the achievements of Hedi Lamarr, a Hollywood superstar in the 40s. She had significant part in developing the frequency jumping function in radio comminication, which made listening in by the enemy very difficult. Even today its a integral part of Bluetooth technology.

[@brokenbridge6316]

Always heard of the Proximity Fuse but didn't know how it came about. Now I know. Thanks a bunch for this video Astrid n Anna. You two are awesome.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for your kind words. -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@brokenbridge6316]

@@WorldWarTwo---your welcome

[@umjackd]

Real Engineering has a great video going into the detail of how the shell works. Well worth checking out.

[@cpking7]

Beyond engaging stories, love the outfits and delivery. Always a treat: thanks!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for watching.

[@KMac329]

Amazing. Astrid and Anna once again reveal a fascinating and crucial development that sped up the defeat of the Axis powers.

[@johnsowerby7182]

I think you two need to do an episode on R. Jones, the boffin behind the scenes in the UK. He worked on so much, often in ways that saved lives (Bending the beams, for example)

[@pyrodiscoflash6115]

There is no other Two that I would rather learn about the History of Proximity Fuses than you Two Beautiful Lovely Ladies, Thank You

[@twoheart7813]

I know many of the people working on this project were ham radio operators putting their radio expertise to good use.

[@P_RO_]

When the US entered the war, they tried to recruit Hams to fill communication needs since they were already trained in Morse code which was still used for most radio communications throughout the war. There were never enough Hams for every position so they worked with them to develop an efficient method of teaching Morse code to anyone, which cut radio operator training times drastically. And most of the advanced electronic and radio theory and practices were developed by Hams, not the commercial radio companies.

[@TomSarelas]

Naval Ordinance Laboratory, White Oak, MD. Technical Shops Division. Nicholas Sarelas, Capt., USNR Ret. Thanks, dad, for such patriotic service by you and 'your boys in the shop.' TFS

[@Yamato-tp2kf]

The proximity fuse arrived in time just to help the American army and navy, because this wonder, was stalled many years by the bureau of ordnance (the biggest nemesis of the US Navy and one of the main culprits in the bad management of the Mark 14 torpedo failure!), but thanks to a certain Admiral Willis "Ching" Lee (yep... The same guy who obliterated battleship Kirishima at the night battle of Guadalcanal in November 13th 1942), this Admiral was the biggest nightmare of the bureau of ordnance ( And one of the few that Admiral Ernest King had a good friendly relation, which is very rare considering the temper he has!!!), and forced a lot of new equipment and weapons for the Navy to use!!!

[@PeteOtton]

I Don't know if Lee had any impact on the VT shell. He was at sea and in command of the battleships when it was introduced into the fleet. He took one apart to see how it worked. His battle with the BuOrd was over purchasing 20 mm and 40 mm AA guns. BuOrd realized he did have the authority. He did alter orders that stated ships may install the additional guns to will install the guns. He also was instrumental in the navy procuring additional RADAR sets.

[@Yamato-tp2kf]

@@PeteOtton In the second half of the 1930's, he was in Washington DC in the and responsible for maintaining the Navy equipment and technology, and he was a very big fan of radar, and you're right, he did have the authority, that's why some navy historians call him the nightmare of the bureau of ordinance

[@Bob1934-l6d]

Would love to see the out takes. Have feeling they had a good time filming this. Bravo Zulu.

[@dougbeirnes4814]

just stubbled on this .......fantastic job ladies......

[@WorldWarTwo]

Glad you enjoyed, thanks for watching!

[@sinisatrlin840]

All enabled with Royal Dutch Phillips tehnology. EF50 valve was created by Phillips, first pentode able to work well on UHF. Hours before German occupation of one of the harbours, lorry full of valve stems, finished valves, valve bases, tooling and all documetation was transported to Britain. Not a single trace of EF50 was left for Germans to discover. EF50 was later manufactured in high quanitites by British and used as workhorse valve for radars, navigation equipment and it was foundation for series of similar valves on bouth sides of Atlantic.

[@richardvernon317]

That valve was the heart of the 1938 Pye 405 line TV set. The Receiver for that TV set became the basis of the Intermediate Frequency Amplifier for the British 1.5 Metre band radars which were small enough to put into aircraft. Hence it was vital for the Air Intercept (AI) and Air to Surface Vessel (ASV) radars fitted to Night Fighters and Coastal Command aircraft from late 1940 onwards. It was also the IF Amp for the British Army's Coastal Defence gun laying radar designed by the Army Cell at Bawdsey. The Army system became the basis of the Chain Home Low radar system in 1939 and the Ground Controlled Intercept Radars developed in 1940 which became operational in the first month of 1941. When the Air Ministry went to Mullard who supplied the Valves to Pye for a big order. Mullard told the men from the Ministry, Big Problem, we don't actually make them, we just rebadge ones made by our parent compony Phillips!!! Yes a large amount of stuff was shipped from Phillips to the UK, but not all of it, the Germans did capture some of the equipment but never made use of it. The USA were very impressed with the UK Radar research and they showed everything they had to the British, who were also very impressed. The USA actually built a lot of UK kit for themselves as they hadn't got anything like it in the pipeline. ASV Mk II was used quite widely by the US Navy and quite a lot of the 1.5 Metre band stuff was used by the US Army for early AI in Havoc night fighters and their early GCI radars. Centimetric radar was very much a UK/US invention. Ideas and concepts developed by both nations went into the operational equipment built and used by both nations. That was the prime reason that the UK took the Magnetron over in 1940, The British had a Transmitter valve, but lacked the knowledge on all of the other technologies required to make a practical operational system.

[@sinisatrlin840]

@@richardvernon317 I was introduced to EF50 when i was in military, i was radar operator. We had dismateled British Thompson radars laying in abandoned part of base. As avid valve collector could not miss the chance to get me "few", those radars are going to scrap anyway. Got me full suitcase of valves and special bases, branded Mullard, Chelmer and Philips. EF50 was base for further miniature and subminiature valves. It has superb internal geometry, very close tolerances and small interelectrode capaticance. It was not bad in resisting vibration and G forces, much better than valves of the era. Valve bases for EF50 where also work of art, at least military ones. I am guessing that Germans did not "get" importance of EF50, and "odd" base confused them. They probably was believing that R12P2000 was enaugh for their need.

[@richardvernon317]

@@sinisatrlin840 AA3 Mk7's???You must have been a Cloud Puncher or REME. I must have handled EF50 type valves at some point early in my RAF career as a Ground Radar Technician, but I only spent a year out of my 30 years in the service on 1950's Valve tech and only remember them by CV numbers thanks to being the guy in charge of the ready use valve stocks in the Electronics workshop. The Germans had their own way of doing things, most likely because the pool of young men who had any knowledge of Radio or Electronics in Germany was a fraction of that in the USA and UK. The German kit was designed to be fixed by box swapping by personnel who had little knowledge of how it worked. The reason being that you didn't find magazines on the shelfs in Germany that tell you how to build a Radio as they didn't what kids to listen to radio broadcasts from outside of Germany. Because of this the Germanys wanted radio equipment that was extremely frequency stable, had a long running life, was very rugged ,didn't need setting up every 5 minutes and could be operated and maintained by Monkeys. The British and Americans on the other had have a buttload of kids who have at some time built a Radio just for the hell of it and actually understand the basics of their operation, just from reading a Magazine and can use a soldering Iron. One of the reasons that the British and Americans got on so well on the Radar side of things was most of scientists involved already knew of each other from reading papers that their counterparts had published over the last 20 years. When the British Military and Churchill questioned whether the USA had radar or not, one of the senior British Government Scientists told them, Yes, the US Navy most likely has it as their equivalent of Watson Watt works for the Naval Research Labs and is very good. When the British got to met their equivalent's they found that their guess was totally correct and the guy in question had built a working radar before Wattson Watt had even though of it!!! The first people to think about Radar in the UK were not the RAF, Somebody in the Royal Navy's signals establishment thought up the idea in 1928, but couldn't get any funding to develop it. The next guys were two scientists at the Army's Signals Experimental Establishment, who came up with the idea of a 50CM gun laying pulse radar for coastal defence and even built a small working lab model to show it would work in 1930/31. The two gentlemen were P.E. Pollard and W.A.S. Butement. Due to the lack of threat and lack of money they were told to drop the idea. When the Army became aware of the Air Ministry's RDF effort, they asked if they could embed their own personnel into the RAF effort to develop systems for the Army. The RAF's attitude was the more the merrier and thus, Pollard and Butement found themselves at Bawdsey. They first developed a simple Range / Altitude mobile long range set to assist AA fire control and a Mobile CH set for use in the field, neither of which were any good and one of them was the type captured by the Germans in 1940. They then, working with Taffy Bowden from the Airborne RDF group developed their original Coastal Defence radar working at 1.5 metres which became the basis of all of the major British Ground based radars working on 1.5 Metres. Pollard came up with the concept of the PPI display in early 1938, not just for rotating Radars, but for Chain Home type ones as well. While Butement lead the team that developed the basic radio Proximity fuze design which was given to the Americans.

[@Significantpower]

It kills seagulls? Bonus!

[@Hehehebwb]

Fr

[@davidwright7193]

Just put down those chips and nobody needs to get hurt….

[@neilwilson5785]

I like gulls, and I have lived by the coast of the UK most of my life. Birds are beautiful creatures that are worth looking at more closely.

[@Significantpower]

@@neilwilson5785 I like most birds. But North American seagulls are a special combo of fearless, gluttonous and aggressive. The humans of the bird world, minus Intelligence (that's corvids)

[@shaider1982]

I have seen quite good videos which focused on the design of the VT fuse. I like how this video discussed on why radar was used and the various uses here.

[@danielgreen3715]

Excellent My Grandfather Had a 'Pozzit' Fuze ( Inert) from a 25 pounder Artillery Shell as a Doorstop for Many years It was a souvenir from His Italian Campaign as part of the Royal Tank Corps ( N Africa/ Italian Campaign).He Was Mentioned in Dispatches Twice and got Two Bronze Oak leaves Whilst in Italy The Pozzit as it was called was always a conversation starter i wish i remember what became of it? Cheers for the ViVideo

[@akriegguardsman]

Didn't admiral ching lee also endorsed the design and wanted it everywhere?

[@questionmark05]

And I believe he also designed a self-destruct for the 40mm after asking the bureau of ordenence if they had a plan for one, they responded they didn't and he responded that wasn't good enough and sent a plan he had devised himself while on board his flagship USS Washington.

[@TheKajunkat]

I know he was a big proponent of new technology. He definitely embraced radar for targeting. I think I remember reading something about him pushing the proximity fuse too.

[@umbrellashotgunman]

@@TheKajunkatHell, despite being at heart a battleship man, wasn’t he one of the first to recognize that carriers were the future?

[@kudukilla]

KZbin channel The Fat Electrician recently had a great video about Willis “Ching” Lee. It includes him being a proponent of the proximity fuse and carriers being the future.

[@PeteOtton]

@@umbrellashotgunman In his last stint in Washington DC, Lee pushed for more RADAR sets for the Navy. He also ordered the accumulation of 20 mm and 40 mm AA Guns. BuOrd questioned his authority to issue said order, but realized he did have the authority. He then altered orders from may to will install said guns aboard ship. When he arrived on USS Washington he knew as much about RADAR as the operators. It is a shame that he couldn't have been at the first night battle of Guadalcanal. He would have open fired much sooner and to better effect than Callahan, who's subordinate commanders took it upon themselves to open fire.

[@carrickrichards2457]

The UK Tizard mission of 1940 included in its large tech transfer to the US, the proximity fuse tech (VT). USN declared it the tech breakthrough of greatest impact of the war. By 1945 US had manufactured ~40 million mostly for naval 4.5" AAA and costs dropped to ~$18 each. It was also used from December 1944 against ground targets which it was well suited for.

[@EnigmaCodeCrusher]

Great program

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thanks for watching!

[@SlaghathortheGreat]

12:44 considering the shit show that was the mark 14 torpedo, I don’t blame him resistance. Although it could also have been that British were heavily involved causing him to instinctively hate it.

[@AllenCross]

Oh, you can bet the Mk14 torpedo debacle had something to do with it. But if I understand it correctly, the problem was less about Admiral King per se than the stubborn insistence on a nearly 100% reliable fuze by King's subordinate for the ordinance program. .

[@metalman3952]

Proximity fuses were truly game changing. I don't remember the exact statistic, but the use of the VT fuse reduced the average number of shells needed to shoot down an aircraft by a huge percentage; something like 60% fewer shells fired per plane shot down.

[@richardross7219]

I read a book printed around 1950 about the 291st Engineer Battalion. The author claimed that the artillery from the 82nd Airborne used proximity fuses to decimate panzergruppen piper.

[@welcometonebalia]

Thank you.

[@KPW2137]

I think it would be really cool to make an episode focused on comparing the Wunderwaffen and show that actually, Alliede developed and mass introduced quite a lot of these. People usually focus on various what if scenarios, usually coming from the German arsenal, not giving much thought to some Allied stuff.

[@CA999]

Watching you both i had to make sure i was sitting far back from the TV. I feared you were going to hit me with a cane stick if i broke concentration! 😮 Oh, great presentation by the way, Miss! Sorry! Ladies! 😊

[@MrAjfish]

You guys really do fantastic work.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you for watching! -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@davidhauge5706]

My mind is weird. I am imaging a similar device that could fit in a shotgun shell for use at a skeet shoot.

[@kenoliver8913]

I'm sure it could be done these days, with solid state electronics

[@marcston]

Trying not to visualize a flying toilet bowl getting fired at my plane :-) Great episode!

[@rayeisenstein4245]

Wonderful work Astrid and team. Waiting for you to the Korean War. Hope it is done like you did DDay 24 hours and Operation Neptune.

[@jimc.goodfellas]

8:55 classic

[@BryceWoodling]

hope you all are doing well please continue making these wonderful episodes and give the kitty lots of love

[@danielnavarro537]

“Necessity is the mother of invention.”

[@casparcoaster1936]

really enjoyed, much obliged.

[@WorldWarTwo]

Thank you, much appreciated. -TimeGhost Ambassador

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

Nice introduction about T-section fission advice during WW2 and Espionage activities for allies favorite 😍...thank you (spy and tiy) programs

[@WorldWarTwo]

See you on the next one!

[@BobGeogeo]

Informative and enjoyable as always. 7:38, maybe I'm being pedantic on the choice of words "... a small enough vacuum tube serving as a transistor, something that cold reliably control an electric current." Transistors weren't invented until 1947.

[@noahcount7132]

Excellent, ladies. Excellent ladies! 👍❤

[@Ciderwinder]

Loving the ladies and their work. Darlings.

[@keithsextonakathebluerose]

I make things happen, too. Sometimes the right word in the right ear at the right time can make things happen fast, uses someone else's money and no chance of getting sued. You have take nothing for the ideas for that to work. It worked 8 times for me.

[@edjopago1]

Astrid Deinhard 💟 and Anna Deinhard 💖💖💖

[@rsfaeges5298]

Fascinating!

[@TheFreaker86]

8:57 that was hilarious! 🤣 this needs to be in the next blooper reel! Actual blooper or not, doesn’t matter!

[@WorldWarTwo]

Great suggestion, thanks!

[@erichluepke855]

What a great lesson to our politicians and scientists today! We should be sharing whatever we can with our allies in Europe and Asia.

[@sodadrinker89]

If we can stop the Chinese from stealing everything.

[@alexamerling79]

The Nazis aren't the only ones with wonder weapons.

[@ScienceChap]

Most of the German wonder weapons were wasteful vanity projects, and made almost no difference to the war.

[@alexamerling79]

Yep. ​@@ScienceChap

[@neilwilson5785]

We had Jeeps, Sherman tanks, and huge numbers of reliable trucks. Oh, and the DC-3 transport planes and liberty ships. The most effective weapons are not always exciting, but will win a war.

[@PeteOtton]

@@neilwilson5785 The US did have the advantage of being thousands of miles from any of the belligerents. This allowed for uninterrupted production. The US also had at the time a well connected railway system to move raw materials and parts around to make mass production such that smaller ships could be fully assembled within a month.

[@JGD185]

​@@ScienceChap they did have a huge influence post war though.

[@eannamcnamara9338]

The allied wunderwaffe such as the nuclear bomb and proximity fuse actually worked, unlike the axis wonder weapons.

[@tjsogmc]

By D-Day the situation for the average German soldier was getting easier when it came to aircraft recognition. If it was black, British; if it was white, American; if it was no plane at all; it was the Luftwaffe.

[@henrycobb]

Missing from video is that USA developed a jammer to foil the fuzes before risking their deployment.

[@iamtpac8335]

Leave it to these two to make proximity fuses sound sexy!

[@bobmetcalfe9640]

I have a book about anti-aircraft fire. You practically need a degree in physics to read it. Which I suppose is why they develop those mechanical computers on board ships that helped do the calculations.

[@Damorann]

This is a perfect example of a great weapon that did not have good PR, but deadly results. Look at the data, not the glitter.

[@okancanarslan3730]

And the final Wunderwaffe of recent wars was not designed by talented scientists but bought from commercial markets: the helicopter drones😂.

[@Chris.in.taiwan]

That German accent sounds suspicious. I get the feeling she might be a spy 🧐

[@mjs3343]

Anna does a great job too. The two gals are wonderful together.

[@billwatkins8227]

Please do a story on the “bat bomb”.

[@Matvei22420]

How about a radio/antenna special? Lack of tank radios... recon... weather stations... and airplane radios are quite the subject

[@P_RO_]

Many good stories there

[@allangibson8494]

Motorola developed miniature vacuum tubes for their 1938 cell phone program. Motorola used these vacuum tubes in their walkie talkies during WW2. Cell phones eventually became a commercial product in 1949 (but required operators to make connections until the CDMA phones of the 1980’s).

[@P_RO_]

Uh no. The idea of transferring calls (radio traffic) from one tower to a closer one as the transmitter moved (radio in a car) was devised by Ham radio operators in Chicago USA so that mobile Hams driving the "loop" around Chicago wouldn't have to switch from one repeater (like a cell tower) to another as they went around the loop. It was from this work that the concept of cell phones emerged; previous to this mobile phones had limited range as only one tower worked them instead of many, as the Chicago Ham's did.

[@allangibson8494]

@@P_RO_ That was the “automated” version. Motorola had a telephone operator manually switching which cell was talking to which handset as the call proceeded.

[@mrlodwick]

Usa and Brits - what a team.

[@GuitarMan22]

I love watching die NachrichtenHelferinnen

[@philsharron1184]

Great stuff again ladies!!!!

[@Zebred2001]

It is fascinating to think of the unprecedented technological developments and surprising global course of World War Two when you realize that this same conflict started with Polish cavalry charging German tanks and ended with an American thermonuclear attack on Japan.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

The Polish cavalry thing is exaggerated if not a total myth, and SPOILER some of the Red Army about to finish off the Third Reich in Berlin are on horseback, but the war did see a huge technological breakthrough overall. In 1939 there were still biplanes around not improved a lot on those around in 1918, by 1945 the jet age had begun.

[@s.henrlllpoklookout5069]

18:26 Never forget

[@edwardloomis887]

OK, I can understand the perspective of the closing message having served six years in Germany, including three years in West Berlin in the closing years of the Cold War. The old ladies who faced Red Army rapists in 1945 and hunger during the Airlift/Luftbruecke 1947-1948 waved at us from the corners while the young'uns dodging West German mandatory service spraypainted "Ami Aus" on the walls along routes we marched. However, for democratic countries, the lesson is that when we pool our intellectual capital and creative energies as the British did when they shared their ideas with Vannevar Bush and team, we are stronger together. Wunderwaffen have nothing on the forces of good and righteousness fighting for world peace when we fight as a team.

[@javidaderson]

I'm doing a dissertation on miniaturization for my engineering degree and every time I read about this thing it's like someone from the future left it on a desk in the past.

[@canuckled]

She's gone to plaid! Must be a Spaceball

[@WinterTor]

I am choosing to believe Anna and Astrid. Are just same woman from that one Daffy duck cartoon about ww2😂

[@jamesbulldogmiller]

Better at killing, yes. But, also better at preventing the enemy from killing>

[@P_RO_]

Nobel with his dynamite and Gatling with his rapid-fire gun both thought their inventions would lead to peace, because they killed so efficiently that nobody would want to chance being on the receiving end of them.

[@fratguide9835]

I love when they do the same gesture like at 5:59 I don’t know if it’s in the script or just mutual instinct but it is fun.

[@WorldWarTwo]

As the director I (Spartacus) can tell you that it’s instinct… watching them I’m always struck by how my wife and daughter are very much related beyond the obvious fact that one created the other…

[@fratguide9835]

@@WorldWarTwo thank you for the response. I love the work yall do. This makes perfect sense. But in the recent episodes with you & Indy… y’all do the same gestures sometimes too. Secret brothers? (I’m kidding, I do similar things with lifelong friends)

[@s.henrlllpoklookout5069]

​@@WorldWarTwoI always had a hunch that they were related...

[@conormacneill8284]

The WW2 espionage 🐐s

[@jillatherton4660]

Good show, Ladies. 👏

[@etowahman1]

Anna is quite beautiful. Good piece too ladies. 😊

[@WorldWarTwo]

We agree!

[@davidwright7193]

If the allies didn’t have any of the things said to have shortened the war by “a year” this war would still be being fought 🙂

[@felipeseguraiv2578]

Outstanding from two beautiful intelligent ladies