The Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) was the main United Kingdom research and development organisation for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II and the years that followed. It was regarded as "the most brilliant and successful of the English wartime research establishments [under] Rowe, who saw more of the English scientific choices between 1935 and 1945 than any single man."
The name was changed to Radar Research Establishment in 1953, and again to the Royal Radar Establishment in 1957. This article covers the precursor organisations and the Telecommunications Research Establishment up to the time of the name change. The later work at the site is described in the separate article about RRE.
History TRE is best known for work on defensive and offensive radar. TRE also made substantial contributions to radio-navigation and to jamming enemy radio-navigation. Radar dominated the organisation's activities.
The organisation was originally at Bawdsey, later moving to Dundee and then to the small village of Worth Matravers around from Swanage, where it was renamed TRE. It subsequently moved to Malvern and then amalgamated with other establishments to become the Royal Radar Establishment.
Bawdsey The development of radar in the United Kingdom was started by Sir Henry Tizard's Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Defence in 1935. Experimental work was begun under the direction of Robert Watson-Watt at Orfordness near Ipswich.Buderi 1996, p. 55. Looking for a suitable permanent location, one of the team members recalled an empty manor house a short distance south of Orfordness and the location became Bawdsey Research Station (BRS) in 1936. At that time, the team became known as the Air Ministry Experimental Station (AMES).
Dundee Bawdsey was only a short E-boat dash across the North Sea from the Netherlands, a fact that was not lost on the Air Ministry. Watson-Watt planned to move the teams to a safer location in the event of war, and approached the rector of his alma mater, University College at Dundee. It is not clear whose fault it was, but when the war opened in 1939 the AMES teams rushed to Dundee they found the rector was only dimly aware of the earlier conversation and nothing had been prepared. By this time the students had returned for the autumn term and consequently there was little room for the researchers.
In addition to lacking room at the University, the teams working on aircraft interception (AI) radar were sent to RAF Scone, a small, formerly civilian airfield near Perth that was entirely unsuited to the scale of their work. Complaints by one of the AI team members worked their way up to higher levels of the Ministry, which led to a search for a more suitable location. Late in the year, the AI team was moved to RAF St Athan in Wales, but ultimately found the location to be only marginally better than Perth.
The "Army Cell" that had formed to take advantage of the AMES research initially followed their moves. In 1941, they moved to join their colleagues of the Air Defence Experimental Establishment who had recently moved from RAF Biggin Hill to Christchurch, Dorset on the south coast of England. The merged group became the Air Defence Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE).Howse 1993, p. 33.
Worth Matravers By the early part of 1940, it was clear that the location in Dundee was unworkable. A new location was ultimately selected west of Worth Matravers on the south coast of England, a short distance from the ADRDE teams. The location had a number of advantages, including good views over the English Channel, not unlike the ones they had at Bawdsey. There was also no infrastructure at the site, which had to be hurriedly prepared. As there was no real village at the site, the location is often referred to as Swanage, a seaside resort town around to the east.
The move took place in late May 1940 and further annoyance was created when the careful planning for the move was upset with the AI team arrived first. On arrival, what was AMES was renamed again as the Ministry of Aircraft Production Research Establishment (MAPRE). It was established as the central research group for Royal Air Force (RAF) uses of radar. The name was once again changed to the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) in November 1940.
Malvern In parallel with these technical developments, the Ministry of Home Security developed a plan, early in 1939, "to evacuate the critical functions of government out of London" if a threat of air raids developed. A site was purchased in Malvern for the Ministry itself. Although it was not developed, the location had become well known to defence officials. The Air Ministry acquired jurisdiction, and used the site for a Signals Training Establishment, housed in prefabricated one storey buildings. In May 1942, the Radar Research and Development Establishment (RRDE) was set up on the site, to develop truck mounted early warning radars.
In the second week of February 1942, the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau escaped from Brest in the Channel Dash. They were undetected until well into the English Channel because German ground forces had gradually increased the jamming of British radar over a period of weeks. The British command had not realised this was happening.Hooton 1994, pp. 114–115.
In the aftermath, the Chief of Combined Operations, Lord Louis Mountbatten, and the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, approved plans for a raid on the German radar station at Bruneval, near Le Havre. The landing party included D. H. Preist, of TRE. The Bruneval raid (code-named Operation Biting) captured a German Würzburg radar system along with a radar operator, which were retrieved and subsequently studied at the TRE.Otway 1990, pp. 68–69. During the weeks that followed, the British authorities became concerned that the Germans would retaliate in kind. Accordingly, the TRE relocated from the Swanage site. The former Telecommunications Research Establishment moved to Malvern, taking up residence in the buildings of Malvern College, an independent boys' boarding school.Jones 1978, p. 247.
At the end of the conflict, TRE moved from Malvern College, to HMS Duke, a Royal Navy training school.Holt 2003, p. 77.
Research and development
Radio navigation Radio navigation (navigational beam) systems are based on the transmission of pulsed radio beams that are detected by aircraft. R. J. Dippy devised the GEE (also called AMES Type 7000) radio navigation system at TRE, where it was developed into a powerful instrument for increasing the accuracy of bombing raids. To provide coverage of the entire UK, three Gee chains were constructed under the direction of Edward Fennessy. Overall, 60,000 Gee sets were manufactured during the Second World War and the system was adopted by the RAF, USAAF, and Royal Navy.
Radio jamming The counter measure to radio navigation was jamming. R. V. Jones was the MI6 science advisor and TRE staff worked closely with him in countering the Luftwaffe's navigational beam technology to hamper the enemy's ability to do pinpoint night bombing raids in what has become known as the "battle of the beams". Robert Cockburn of the TRE was responsible for the development of the Jostle IV radio jammer — the most powerful jammer device used over Europe. At 2 kW output it could block all VHF transmissions over 32-48 MHz. However, enclosed in its own pressurised container, (to prevent arcing of the high voltages inside), it was large and at 600 lb took up the entirety of the bomb bay of the Boeing B-17 used by No. 100 Group RAF. Due to the high transmitter power, test flights had to be carried out in the vicinity of Iceland, otherwise the jamming would have blanked out all frequencies in the specified range, over a large area, as well as giving the Germans warning of the impending arrival of a jamming system.
Radar The development of radar for defensive and offensive operations was of paramount concern during the war. Early work was on aircraft interception (AI) radar that was able to be carried in night fighters and used for locating enemy aircraft in the dark, as Britain was soon facing The Blitz. The first tests had been carried out as early as 1936–7 using a Handley Page Heyford and later an Avro Anson at the initial suggestion of Henry Tizard then Chairman of the Aeronautical Research Committee.Jarrett Aeroplane Monthly November 1995, p. 18. Initial aircraft used operationally were Bristol Blenheims converted to fighters with belly gun packs, followed by a brief usage of the AI radar-equipped Turbinlite Douglas Havoc paired with Hawker Hurricanes,. but later the Bristol Beaufighter was chosen, followed by the de Havilland Mosquito which later became the standard RAF night fighter for the remainder of the war. Initial versions of AI radar were metric-wavelength, the antennas being arrow-shaped or dipoles, later centimetric versions used a rotating paraboloid aerial carried under a streamlined nose radome.Scutts 1993, p. 7. Aircraft interception radar progressed from the initial AI Mk I version to the AI Mk 24 Foxhunter used in the Panavia Tornado.
Parallel work was carried out on air-to-surface-vessel (ASV) radar for use by Coastal Command aircraft for hunting U-boats at sea, initially using the Lockheed Hudson equipped with an early version of ASV. Success with the new equipment led to mounting the equipment onto Vickers Wellingtons and Sunderland flying boats, the early metric-wavelength ASV-equipped types carrying an array of transmitting and receiving "Stickleback" aerials on the rear fuselage top and sides and under the wings.Bowman 2011, pp. 54–55.Norris 1967, p. 10. Later a version of the centimetric-wavelength H2S was used. ASV-equipped aircraft such as the Wellington, Sunderland, Catalina and Liberator, made a substantial contribution to winning the Battle of the Atlantic for the Allies. ASV-equipped Fairey Swordfish and Fairey Barracudas were carried on board aircraft carriers,Bowen 1998, p. 101.Watts 2018, pp. 2-17. the Swordfish being flown from the smaller escort carriers where they formed a valuable anti-submarine presence when used over the numerous North Atlantic convoys.Stott 1971, p. 38.
The Oboe blind bombing system was designed and developed by Frank Jones at TRE in collaboration with Alec Reeves at the Royal Aircraft Establishment. Oboe transponders were fitted to Mosquitoes of 109 Squadron, which developed the use of the device as part of the Pathfinder Force. The Mosquito was chosen because the transponder device mounted in the airplane was not large, and its use required the aircraft to fly for 10 minutes on a straight and level course. That being the case speed was essential to avoid being intercepted. In addition, the Mosquito could reach 30,000 feet altitude, and this improved the range across the continent that the device could be used over.
The H2S radar used the newly developed cavity magnetron. It was carried by RAF bombers to identify ground targets for night and all-weather bombing. Initial trials were with a Handley Page Halifax and, despite setbacks, the equipment later became a standard fitting on Halifaxes, Short Stirlings and Avro Lancasters. It was also fitted to the post-war Vickers Valiant, Avro Vulcan, Handley Page Victor, and bomber versions of the English Electric Canberra. H2S in its final form of H2S Mk 9 was still being used on Vulcans as late as the 1982 Falklands War.Lovell 1991, pp. 219-260. C. E. Wynn-Williams worked on these navigational radars, but was transferred to cryptographic work at Bletchley Park.