GEMA: Birthplace of German Radar and Sonar

by von Kroge; Harry

• ISBN13: 9780750307321
• ISBN10: 0750307323
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-01-01
• Publisher: CRC Press

Summary

In Germany, the development of the first technologies of sonar and radar were interrelated. Following Christian Hülsmeyer's forgotten invention of the "Telemobiloskop" in 1904, two Berlin engineers, Paul Günther Erbslöh and Hans-Karl von Willisen, developed and built devices to locate targets accurately by reflections with underwater sound and radio waves. In 1934, they found their own company for this work, called Gesellschaft für Elektroakustische und Mechanische Apparate (GEMA), which became the birthplace of their famous Freya air-warning and Seetakt ocean-surveillance radars. Harry von Kroge has devoted decades to collecting a mass of statements and widely scattered documentary material about the evolution of GEMA's sonar and radar. GEMA: Birthplace of German Radar and Sonar, the English edition of von Kroge's first important, seminal work, discusses previously unavailable parts of the fascinating story of pioneering efforts in learning to see in the darkness. It relates the fascinating story of how German radar and sonar were developed in the years leading up to and during World War II. The author provides insights into the difficulties encountered on the way to the first promising results in target detection and ranging without optical visibility. The book includes rare technical descriptions as well as information about industrial and scientific cooperation involving secret equipment in Germany before 1945.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Preface	ix
Introduction	1	(6)
In The Beginning Was An Idea	7	(2)
The Originators	9	(6)
An Irresolute Beginning	15	(4)
The Incorporation of Gema	19	(2)
The First Underwater Sound and Radar Equipment	21	(12)
Dete-And S-Equipment	33	(6)
First Surprises	39	(4)
Drop the Magnetron, Pick Up the Triode	43	(4)
A Radar Success with Aircraft	47	(6)
Things Move Forward	53	(8)
Year of Decisions	61	(10)
The Beginning of Production	71	(8)
The Time Just Before the War	79	(6)
Gema is Bound to Armaments	85	(8)
War Does not Stop Research	93	(10)
Hard But Successful Years	103	(12)
Turbulent Times	115	(14)
On the Way to Powerful Radar and Sonar	129	(12)
Intensification to the Limit	141	(12)
Gema's Constrained Ending	153	(4)
Translator's Epilogue	157	(4)
Sources	161	(5)
Photographs	166	(29)
Name Index	195	(4)
Subject Index	199