List of World War II electronic warfare equipment facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

During World War II, countries used special electronic tools and secret codes to gain an advantage in battles. This was called electronic warfare. It involved everything from finding enemy planes with radar to jamming their radios.

This list includes many examples of radar, radar jammers, and radar detectors. These were often used by night fighters. There were also beam-guidance systems and radio beacons. Many British developments came from the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE). Two special groups, No. 100 Group RAF and No. 101 Squadron RAF, focused on electronic warfare. Many of these devices were fitted to de Havilland Mosquitos of 100 Group and Avro Lancasters of 101 Squadron. A large number of American radar systems came from the MIT Radiation Laboratory, also known as the "Rad Lab".

Electronic Warfare Tools and Secret Names
Tactics and Strategies
See also

Electronic Warfare Tools and Secret Names

Finding the Enemy

Abdullah: A British system that helped planes find and attack German radar stations. It was used by Typhoons during Operation Overlord.
AI (Airborne Interception radar): Radar used by night fighters to spot enemy planes in the dark.
ASV (Air to Surface Vessel radar): A radar system that could find surfaced submarines up to 36 miles away.
ASDIC: A British sonar system used by ships to hunt for German U-boats underwater.
Boozer: A British device fitted to bombers that warned them if enemy fighter radar was locking onto them.
Chain Home radar: A British land-based radar system that gave early warnings of enemy aircraft during the Battle of Britain.
Fishpond: A radar add-on for the British H2S system. It warned bombers if enemy fighters were following them.
Flensburg: A German radar detector used by night fighters. It could find the signals from British Monica tail warning radar.
Freya: A German ground-based radar used to search for enemy aircraft.
Gufo radar: An Italian naval radar used by the Italian navy from 1942 to 1943.
H2S: A British radar that created maps of the ground. This helped bombers find targets at night or through cloud cover.
H2X: An American radar similar to the British H2S, but it used a higher frequency for even better ground mapping.
Hohentwiel: A German airborne radar mainly used by planes to find ships and submarines.
Huff-Duff: A system used by the Allies to find the direction of enemy radio signals. This helped them locate enemy ships or U-boats.
Identification Friend or Foe (IFF): A system that helped identify friendly aircraft on radar. RAF planes had a special device that would respond to the Chain Home radar.
Lichtenstein: A German radar used by night fighters. It was introduced in 1941/1942.
Metox: A radar detector fitted to German submarines. It warned them if Allied planes were using radar to find them.
Monica tail warning radar: A British radar fitted to the back of bombers. It warned them if enemy fighters were approaching from behind.
Naxos: A German device that could detect and home in on the British H2S radar.
Neptun: A German night fighter radar introduced in mid-1944. It replaced the older Lichtenstein radar.
Perfectos: A device carried by British night fighters. It could home in on German night fighter radar signals and trigger their IFF systems.
Pip-squeak: An IFF system used by the RAF during the Battle of Britain. It helped track friendly fighter squadrons in the air.
Seetakt: A radar developed by Germany in the 1930s for ships. It was later improved into the Freya air search radar.
Serrate: A British device used by night fighters to track down German night fighters using their radar.
Village Inn: A British radar-aimed gun turret fitted to some Lancasters in 1944.
Würzburg: A German ground-based radar used to search for aircraft.

Jamming and Deception

Airborne Cigar (A.B.C.): A powerful British jammer carried by 101 Squadron Lancasters. It would find German night fighter radio broadcasts and jam them with a loud warbling sound, making it impossible for German pilots to get instructions.
Airborne Grocer: A British radar jammer used against early German Lichtenstein radar.
Aspidistra: A powerful British radio station used for Operation Corona.
Aspirin: A British jammer used against the German Knickebein navigation system.
Benjamin: A British jammer used against the German Y-Gerät navigation system.
Bromide: A British jammer used against the German X-Gerät bombing system.
Carpet: A British radio jammer used by 100 Group. The US built their own version called AN/APT-2.
Chaff: Short strips of metal foil dropped from planes to create false echoes on enemy radar. The US called it chaff, while the British called it Window. The Germans called it Düppel.
Cigar (later "Ground Cigar"): An earlier ground-based version of the Airborne Cigar jammer.
Corona: A British operation where German-speaking personnel (including WAAFs) broadcast fake instructions to confuse German night fighters.
Domino: Another British jammer used against the German Y-Gerät navigation system.
Elephant Cigar: An Allied ground-based jammer designed to block German fighter communications during Operation Overlord.
Filbert: A large naval barrage balloon fitted with a radar reflector. It was used to make German radar think there were ships where there weren't during Operation Glimmer and Operation Taxable.
Grocer (later "Ground Grocer"): A ground-based version of the Airborne Grocer jammer.
Hookah: A British jammer and homing device that targeted German AI radars.
Kettenhund: A German jammer used against the British Eureka beacon.
Mandrel: A British jammer used by 100 Group against German Freya and Würzburg radars. The US built their own version called AN/APT-3.
Meacon: A British long-wave jamming station that re-broadcasted enemy navigation signals to confuse them.
Moonshine: A British airborne jammer installed in modified Boulton Paul Defiants. It was used to trick German Freya radar.
Piperack: An airborne jamming transmitter carried by a lead aircraft. It created a cone of jamming behind it, allowing the following bomber stream to fly safely.
Roderich: A German radar jammer used against the British H2S radar.
Rope: Long strips of Window suspended from small parachutes. They were dropped by planes to trick German Seetakt coastal radar during Operation Glimmer and Operation Taxable.
Shiver: Early attempts by the British to jam German Würzburg radar using ground transmissions.
Tinsel: A British technique where amplified engine noise was broadcast on German night fighter radio frequencies to make communication difficult for them.
Window: Strips of aluminium foil dropped from planes to flood German radar with false echoes.

Navigation and Bombing Systems

Beam Approach Beacon System (BABS): A British system that helped planes land safely in bad weather using the Eureka beacon.
BUPS (Beacon Ultra Portable S-band): A portable American beacon system.
Darky: A British backup system where a pilot could be talked back to their home base using a radio.
Egon: A German bomb-targeting system that used the Erstling IFF system and two Freya radar ground stations.
Eureka: A portable radio beacon system used on the ground.
G–H: A British radio navigation system used for blind bombing.
GEE: A British radio navigation system, similar to the later LORAN system.
H.F. D/F (High Frequency Direction Finding): A system that helped RAF aircraft find their home bases using radio signals.
Jay beams: British radio beams that planes could follow back to Britain. They were also used to confuse the Germans about the use of GEE.
Kehl: A German radio control system used to guide missiles like the Hs 293 and Fritz X.
Knickebein: A German dual-beam radio navigation system used in early 1940.
Lorenz: A German blind-landing system that used a guidance beam and marker beacons.
LORAN: An American navigation aid, similar to the British GEE.
Lucero: A British homing system carried by some Mosquitos. It helped them find German Kettenhund jammers.
M.F. D/F (Medium Frequency Direction Finding): Another radio position fixing system for the RAF, with a longer range than H.F. D/F.
Oboe: A British twin-beam navigation system, similar to Knickebein but more advanced.
Parramatta: A system for marking targets by dropping ground markers when guided by Oboe.
Ping-Pong: A ground-based direction finder that could pinpoint German radar sites. This allowed them to be attacked before Operation Overlord.
Rebecca: The airborne receiver part of the Eureka beacon system.
Wanganui: A system for marking targets by dropping sky markers when the ground was hidden by clouds, often guided by Oboe.
X-Gerät: A German multiple-beam guided bombing system that replaced older systems.
Y-Gerät: A German single-beam guided bombing system, also known as Wotan.

Other Equipment and Terms

Berlin: A German night fighter radar introduced in April 1945.
Bremenanlage: An experimental German airborne search radar.
Bumerang: German secret name for Oboe-guided Mosquitos when they were detected on Flammen radar.
Egerland: A German fire-control radar system made up of Marbach and Kulmbach systems.
Flammen: A German plotting system used to detect Oboe-equipped Pathfinder Mosquitos.
FuG: Short for Funk-Gerät, which means "radio equipment" in German. This was a common prefix for German military avionics systems.
Kulmbach: A German targeting radar linked with Marbach to form Egerland.
Marbach: A German ground-based microwave search radar from around 1945.
Mickey: The American nickname for their H2X blind bombing radar.

Tactics and Strategies

Bomber stream: A British tactic where many bombers flew close together in a long line. This helped them overwhelm the German air defenses.
Gardening: The RAF's secret name for dropping mines in important sea lanes. German reports about these operations helped British codebreakers at Bletchley Park to decrypt Enigma messages.
Kammhuber Line: The British name for Germany's Himmelbett radar-controlled air defense system.
Operational research: The study of how military operations work, often using statistics. This helped find problems or unexpected results caused by new enemy electronic equipment or tactics.
Wilde Sau (Wild Boar): A German tactic where night fighters flew freely, without being guided by ground radar.
Zahme Sau (Tame Boar): A German tactic where night fighters were guided by ground radar to attack incoming bomber streams.