List of World War II electronic warfare equipment

This is a List of World War II electronic warfare
Electronic warfare
Electronic warfare refers to any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults via the spectrum. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponent the advantage of, and ensure friendly...

equipment and code words

Code name

A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage...

and tactics derived directly from the use of electronic equipment.

Equipment and code words

Abdullah - British radar homing system for attacking German radar sites - carried by rocket-armed Typhoon
Hawker Typhoon
The Hawker Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. While the Typhoon was designed to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, and a direct replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, several design problems were encountered, and the Typhoon never completely satisfied...

s for Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
AI (Airborne Interception) – British night fighter
Night fighter
A night fighter is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility...

radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

s
Airborne Cigar (A.B.C.) – ARI TR3549 jamming
Radar jamming and deception
Radar jamming and deception is the intentional emission of radio frequency signals to interfere with the operation of a radar by saturating its receiver with noise or false information...

transmitter carried by No. 101 Sqn
No. 101 Squadron RAF
No. 101 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Vickers VC10 C1K, K3 and K4 from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire. Since 10 Squadron disbanded in 2005, the squadron is the only operator of the VC10.-Formation and early years:...

Lancasters based at Ludford Magna
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...

using 8th crew member to monitor and then jam German night fighters utilising Lichtenstein radar
Lichtenstein radar
Lichtenstein radar was a German airborne radar in use during World War II. It was available in at least four major revisions, the FuG 202 Lichtenstein B/C, FuG 212 Lichtenstein C-1, FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2 and FuG 228 Lichtenstein SN-3.- FuG 202 Lichtenstein B/C :Early FuG 202 Lichtenstein B/C...
Airborne Grocer – British 50 cm Lichtenstein radar
Lichtenstein radar
Lichtenstein radar was a German airborne radar in use during World War II. It was available in at least four major revisions, the FuG 202 Lichtenstein B/C, FuG 212 Lichtenstein C-1, FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2 and FuG 228 Lichtenstein SN-3.- FuG 202 Lichtenstein B/C :Early FuG 202 Lichtenstein B/C...

jammer - see also Grocer/Ground Grocer
Alberich - German anti-ASDIC rubber coating for U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

hulls - trialled on U-67
ASDIC – British sonar system used for hunting U-boats
Aspirin – British Knickebein jammer
ASH – Air to Surface H or AI Mk XV (U.S -AN/APS4). Centimetric airborne air-air radar derived from ASV operating at 3 cm wavelength at a frequency of 10 GHz. Used by 100 Group
No. 100 Group RAF
No. 100 Group was a special duties group within RAF Bomber Command.It was formed on 11 November 1943 to consolidate the increasingly complex business of electronic warfare and countermeasures within one organisation. The group was responsible for the development, operational trial and use of...

Mosquitos
De Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...

; postwar Sea Hornet N.F. Mark 21
De Havilland Hornet
The de Havilland DH.103 Hornet was a piston engine fighter that further exploited the wooden construction techniques pioneered by de Havilland's classic Mosquito. Entering service at the end of the Second World War, the Hornet equipped postwar RAF Fighter Command day fighter units in the UK and was...

.
ASV – Air to Surface Vessel radar. A 1.5 metre radar that could detect surfaced submarines at up to 36 miles.
BABS
Beam Approach Beacon System
A blind approach beacon system or beam approach beacon system is an automatic radar landing system developed in the early 1940s....

(Beam Approach Beacon System) ARI TR3567 - British blind-landing system using Rebecca
Eureka beacon
The Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar was a transponder system used as a radio homing beacon by means of a Eureka ground emitter responding to queries from an airborne Rebecca interrogator.-Operation:...
Benjamin – British Y-Gerät
Y-Gerät (navigation)
Y-Gerät , also known as Wotan, was a radio navigation system used by the Luftwaffe in World War II to aid bomber navigation. It was preceded by the X-Gerät system....

jammer - see also Domino
Berlin (Radar) FuG-240, German night fighter radar, introduced April 1945, centrimetic (microwave) frequency radar (9 cm/3 GHz)
Boozer – ARI R1618 fighter radar early warning device fitted to British bombers
Bremenanlage - FuG 244/245, German airborne search radar
Bromide – British X-Gerät jammer
BUPS - Beacon Ultra Portable S-band, AN/UPN-1
AN/UPN-1
The AN/UPN-1 was a radar Pathfinder marker beacon used by the Army Air Force and Airborne forces during World War II.-Use:Radar beacon AN/UPN-1, sometimes known as BUPS , is an ultra portable beacon for ground, Paratroop or shipboard use having a range of 35 to 50 miles...
Carpet – 100 Group W/T (morse
Morse code
Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...

radio) jammer - from TRE
Telecommunications Research Establishment
The Telecommunications Research Establishment was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force during World War II and the years that followed. The name was...

- US version built as AN/APT-2
Cigar (later "Ground Cigar") – earlier ground-based version of Airborne Cigar
Corona
Operation Corona
Operation 'Corona was a RAF initiative to confuse German night fighters during RAF bomber raids on German cities during WWII. Native German speakers impersonated German Air Defence officers...

– 100 Group radio transmissions using German-speaking personnel, and later WAAF
Women's Auxiliary Air Force
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force , whose members were invariably referred to as Waafs , was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II, established in 1939. At its peak strength, in 1943, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000, with over 2,000 women enlisting per week.A Women's Royal Air...

s, for spoof controlling of German night fighters to confuse German counter-attacks
Chain Home
Chain Home
Chain Home was the codename for the ring of coastal Early Warning radar stations built by the British before and during the Second World War. The system otherwise known as AMES Type 1 consisted of radar fixed on top of a radio tower mast, called a 'station' to provide long-range detection of...

radar – British land based early warning radar
Early warning radar
An early warning radar is any radar system used primarily for the long-range detection of its targets, i.e., allowing defences to be alerted as early as possible before the intruder reaches its target, giving the defences the maximum time in which to operate...

used during the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...

- from TRE
Telecommunications Research Establishment
The Telecommunications Research Establishment was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force during World War II and the years that followed. The name was...
Düppel
Chaff (radar countermeasure)
Chaff, originally called Window by the British, and Düppel by the Second World War era German Luftwaffe , is a radar countermeasure in which aircraft or other targets spread a cloud of small, thin pieces of aluminium, metallized glass fibre or plastic, which either appears as a cluster of secondary...

– German radar countermeasure called chaff
Chaff (radar countermeasure)
Chaff, originally called Window by the British, and Düppel by the Second World War era German Luftwaffe , is a radar countermeasure in which aircraft or other targets spread a cloud of small, thin pieces of aluminium, metallized glass fibre or plastic, which either appears as a cluster of secondary...

in the US or Window in England
Darky – RAF a backup system in case the other systems were broken or the operator of the other direction finding systems was dead. Using his radio, on 6.440 MHz the pilot could be talked back to his home base
Diver - Integrated RAF and Royal Observer Corps
Royal Observer Corps
The Royal Observer Corps was a civil defence organisation operating in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December 1995, when the Corps' civilian volunteers were stood down....

system for intercepting German V1 flying bombs while still in flight
Domino – British Y-Gerät
Y-Gerät (navigation)
Y-Gerät , also known as Wotan, was a radio navigation system used by the Luftwaffe in World War II to aid bomber navigation. It was preceded by the X-Gerät system....

jammer - see also Benjamin
Egerlund - German fire-control radar - linked Marbach and Kulmbach systems - only two built by 1945
Eureka
Eureka beacon
The Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar was a transponder system used as a radio homing beacon by means of a Eureka ground emitter responding to queries from an airborne Rebecca interrogator.-Operation:...

– portable homing beacon system - ground transmitter - see also Rebecca
Filbert - 29 feet (8.8 m) naval barrage balloon
Barrage balloon
A barrage balloon is a large balloon tethered with metal cables, used to defend against low-level aircraft attack by damaging the aircraft on collision with the cables, or at least making the attacker's approach more difficult. Some versions carried small explosive charges that would be pulled up...

fitted with internal 9-ft radar reflector - for Operation Glimmer
Operation Glimmer
Operation Glimmer was the codename for one of the deception operations used by the Allied forces during World War II in connection with the Normandy landings . In conjunction with Operation Taxable, this was conducted by aircraft of the Royal Air Force and small ships of the Royal Navy to trick the...

and Taxable
Operation Taxable
Operation Taxable was the codename for one of the deception operations used by the Allied forces during World War II in connection with the Normandy landings...

.
Flammen - German plotting system for detecting Oboe-equipped Pathfinder
Pathfinder (RAF)
The Pathfinders were elite squadrons in RAF Bomber Command during World War II. They located and marked targets with flares, which a main bomber force could aim at, increasing the accuracy of their bombing...

Mosquitoes
De Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...
Fishpond
Fishpond
Fishpond was the code name given to an extension to the British H2S airborne radar system fitted to Royal Air Force Avro Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax heavy bombers during World War II...

– British fighter warning radar add-on to H2S
H2S radar
H2S was the first airborne, ground scanning radar system. It was developed in Britain in World War II for the Royal Air Force and was used in various RAF bomber aircraft from 1943 to the 1990s. It was designed to identify targets on the ground for night and all-weather bombing...

, fitted early 1944 to some bombers
Flensburg
Flensburg radar detector
The FuG 227 Flensburg was a German passive radar receiver developed by Siemens AG and introduced into service in Spring 1944. It used wing-mounted dipole antennae and was sensitive to frequencies of 170-220 MHz...

– FuG 227, German radar device fitted to night fighters that detected British Monica
Monica tail warning radar
Monica was a range-only tail warning radar for bombers, introduced by the RAF in the spring of 1942. Officially known as ARI 5664, it operated at frequencies of around 300 MHz...

transmissions
Freya
Freya radar
Freya was an early warning radar deployed by Germany during World War II, named after the Norse Goddess Freyja. During the war over a thousand stations were built. A naval version operating on a slightly different wavelength was also developed as Seetakt...

– German ground based air search radar
G-H
G-H (navigation)
Gee-H, or sometimes G-H, was a radio navigation system developed by Britain during World War II to aid RAF Bomber Command. Its official name was AMES Type 100...

– British radio navigation system used for blind bombing - from TRE
Telecommunications Research Establishment
The Telecommunications Research Establishment was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force during World War II and the years that followed. The name was...
GEE
GEE (navigation)
Gee was the code name given to a radio navigation system used by the Royal Air Force during World War II.Different sources record the name as GEE or Gee. The naming supposedly comes from "Grid", so the lower case form is more correct, and is the form used in Drippy's publications. See Drippy 1946....

– British radio navigation system forerunner of LORAN
LORAN
LORAN is a terrestrial radio navigation system using low frequency radio transmitters in multiple deployment to determine the location and speed of the receiver....

- from TRE
Telecommunications Research Establishment
The Telecommunications Research Establishment was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force during World War II and the years that followed. The name was...
Granite - a system of coloured flares and rockets deployed by the Royal Observer Corps
Royal Observer Corps
The Royal Observer Corps was a civil defence organisation operating in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December 1995, when the Corps' civilian volunteers were stood down....

to warn aircraft of high ground in fog and mist. In certain parts of the country the flares were used to steer fogbound aircraft to FIDO
Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (FIDO)
Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation was a system used for dispersing fog from an airfield so that aircraft could land safely...

equipped airfields.
Grocer (later "Ground Grocer") – ground-based version of Airborne Grocer
H.F. D/F (High Frequency Direction Finding) – provided a radio position fix for the RAF up to 100 miles from the transmitters in Britain. The system was based on voice communications, and was used for aircraft to find their home bases. The development of GEE its primary function ceased but it remained in use until the end of the war as a backup system and a communications system between aircraft and their base.
H2S
H2S radar
H2S was the first airborne, ground scanning radar system. It was developed in Britain in World War II for the Royal Air Force and was used in various RAF bomber aircraft from 1943 to the 1990s. It was designed to identify targets on the ground for night and all-weather bombing...

– British ground mapping radar to see target at night and through cloud cover - from TRE
Telecommunications Research Establishment
The Telecommunications Research Establishment was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force during World War II and the years that followed. The name was...
H2X
H2X radar
H2X radar was an American development of the British H2S radar, the first ground mapping radar to be used in combat. It was used by the USAAF during World War II as a navigation system for daylight overcast and nighttime operations...

– American 10 GHz
GHZ
GHZ or GHz may refer to:# Gigahertz .# Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state — a quantum entanglement of three particles.# Galactic Habitable Zone — the region of a galaxy that is favorable to the formation of life....

ground mapping radar, higher frequency development of British H2S
High Tea - British sonobuoy
Sonobuoy
A sonobuoy is a relatively small expendable sonar system that is dropped/ejected from aircraft or ships conducting anti-submarine warfare or underwater acoustic research....

used by RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force . Founded in 1936, it was the RAF's premier maritime arm, after the Royal Navy's secondment of the Fleet Air Arm in 1937. Naval aviation was neglected in the inter-war period, 1919–1939, and as a consequence the service did not receive...

in 1944
Himmelbett – German controlled night fighter method
Hohentwiel – FuG 200, German UHF airborne radar optimized for maritime (anti-ship) use, named for an extinct southwestern German volcano
Hohentwiel
Hohentwiel is an extinct volcano in the Hegau region of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. About 20 miles from Lake Constance, it lies in the German city of Singen....
Hookah - ARI R1625/R1668 - British jammer-homer operating on 490, 530-600Mhz
Huff-Duff
Huff-Duff
High-frequency direction finding, usually known by its abbreviation HF/DF is the common name for a type of radio direction finding employed especially during the two World Wars....

– Allied HF/DF High Frequency Direction Finding
Identification Friend or Foe
Identification friend or foe
In telecommunications, identification, friend or foe is an identification system designed for command and control. It is a system that enables military and national interrogation systems to identify aircraft, vehicles, or forces as friendly and to determine their bearing and range from the...

(IFF) - means of identifying possible enemy aircraft detected on Chain Home
Chain Home
Chain Home was the codename for the ring of coastal Early Warning radar stations built by the British before and during the Second World War. The system otherwise known as AMES Type 1 consisted of radar fixed on top of a radio tower mast, called a 'station' to provide long-range detection of...

early warning system using transponder fitted in RAF aircraft - from TRE
Telecommunications Research Establishment
The Telecommunications Research Establishment was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force during World War II and the years that followed. The name was...
Jay beams – were introduced partly as a deception to help to confuse the Germans over the use of GEE. It was nevertheless just as useful as a homing beacon. A number of transmitters, from Lossiemouth
Lossiemouth
Lossiemouth is a town in Moray, Scotland. Originally the port belonging to Elgin, it became an important fishing town. Although there has been over a 1,000 years of settlement in the area, the present day town was formed over the past 250 years and consists of four separate communities that...

to Manston
Manston, Kent
Manston is a village and civil parish in the Thanet district of Kent, England. The village is situated one mile north-west of Ramsgate. The parish includes four hamlets and Kent International Airport.-Etymology:...

in Kent transmitted on slightly different frequencies transmitted a narrow beam across the North Sea using a S.B.A. (Standard Beam Approach) transmitter, receivers for-which were fitted to all British bombers and could be received over a range of 350 miles at 10,000 feet. Once a bomber found a beam it could fly down it back to Britain. In late 1943, all but two beams were closed down with these final two shutting down towards the end of 1944 because GEE could do the job better and their use to deceive the Germans was by now redundant.
Jostle – 2.5kW airborne jamming transmitter carried in sealed bomb bays of 100 Group
No. 100 Group RAF
No. 100 Group was a special duties group within RAF Bomber Command.It was formed on 11 November 1943 to consolidate the increasingly complex business of electronic warfare and countermeasures within one organisation. The group was responsible for the development, operational trial and use of...

Fortresses - from TRE
Telecommunications Research Establishment
The Telecommunications Research Establishment was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force during World War II and the years that followed. The name was...
Kehl – series of German aircraft-mounted radio control
Radio control
Radio control is the use of radio signals to remotely control a device. The term is used frequently to refer to the control of model vehicles from a hand-held radio transmitter...

transmitter sets for use in aerial guidance of the Hs 293
Henschel Hs 293
The Henschel Hs 293 was a World War II German anti-ship guided missile: a radio-controlled glide bomb with a rocket engine slung underneath it. It was designed by Herbert A. Wagner.- History :...

and Fritz X
Fritz X
Fritz X was the most common name for a German guided anti-ship glide bomb used during World War II. Fritz X was a nickname used both by Allied and Luftwaffe personnel. Alternate names include Ruhrstahl SD 1400 X, Kramer X-1, PC 1400X or FX 1400...

weapons - its signals were received by the Straßburg units in the missiles themselves. Named for Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

, and one of its German suburbs
Kehl
Kehl is a town in southwestern Germany in the Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the river Rhine, directly opposite the French city of Strasbourg.-History:...

.
Kettenhund – German Eureka
Eureka beacon
The Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar was a transponder system used as a radio homing beacon by means of a Eureka ground emitter responding to queries from an airborne Rebecca interrogator.-Operation:...

jammer
Knickebein – German dual beam radio navigation aid, used early 1940
Kulmbach - German targeting radar based on Marbach - linked with Marbach to form Egerlund
Lichtenstein
Lichtenstein radar
Lichtenstein radar was a German airborne radar in use during World War II. It was available in at least four major revisions, the FuG 202 Lichtenstein B/C, FuG 212 Lichtenstein C-1, FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2 and FuG 228 Lichtenstein SN-3.- FuG 202 Lichtenstein B/C :Early FuG 202 Lichtenstein B/C...

– German UHF (B/C and C-1 versions), later VHF (SN-2 version) night fighter radar, introduced 1941/1942
Lorenz – Germans blind-landing aid
LORAN
LORAN
LORAN is a terrestrial radio navigation system using low frequency radio transmitters in multiple deployment to determine the location and speed of the receiver....

– American navigation aid
Lucero – British homing system carried by some Mosquitoes
De Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...

for homing-in on Kettenhund (Eureka
Eureka beacon
The Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar was a transponder system used as a radio homing beacon by means of a Eureka ground emitter responding to queries from an airborne Rebecca interrogator.-Operation:...

jammer) - from TRE
Telecommunications Research Establishment
The Telecommunications Research Establishment was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force during World War II and the years that followed. The name was...
Mandrel – No. 100 Group RAF
No. 100 Group RAF
No. 100 Group was a special duties group within RAF Bomber Command.It was formed on 11 November 1943 to consolidate the increasingly complex business of electronic warfare and countermeasures within one organisation. The group was responsible for the development, operational trial and use of...

swamping of Freya and Würzburg radar - from TRE
Telecommunications Research Establishment
The Telecommunications Research Establishment was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force during World War II and the years that followed. The name was...

- US version built as AN/APT-3
Marbach - German microwave ground-based search radar, c. 1945
Metox
Metox
The Metox, named after its manufacturer, was a pioneering high frequency very sensitive radar warning receiver manufactured by a small French company in occupied Paris, which could detect ASV transmissions from patrolling Allied aircraft. It is not clear whether the design was German or French or...

– receiver installed on German submarines that gave warning of approaching aircraft by detecting changes in the transmissions from the radar.
Meacon – Masking BEACON - British long wave jamming station
M.F. D/F (Medium Frequency Direction Finding) - provided a radio position fix for the RAF up to 230 miles from the transmitters in Britain. The system was based on voice communications.
Monica
Monica tail warning radar
Monica was a range-only tail warning radar for bombers, introduced by the RAF in the spring of 1942. Officially known as ARI 5664, it operated at frequencies of around 300 MHz...

– Fighter radar early warning device fitted to British bombers
Moonshine – ARI TR1427 British airborne Freya
Freya radar
Freya was an early warning radar deployed by Germany during World War II, named after the Norse Goddess Freyja. During the war over a thousand stations were built. A naval version operating on a slightly different wavelength was also developed as Seetakt...

spoof
Spoofing attack
In the context of network security, a spoofing attack is a situation in which one person or program successfully masquerades as another by falsifying data and thereby gaining an illegitimate advantage.- Spoofing and TCP/IP :...

er/radar jammer installed in 20 modified Boulton Paul Defiant
Boulton Paul Defiant
The Boulton Paul Defiant was a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force early in the Second World War. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter", without any forward-firing guns. It was a contemporary of the Royal Navy's Blackburn Roc...

s (No. 515 Squadron RAF
No. 515 Squadron RAF
No. 515 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force formed during the Second World War. It stood at the brink of Electronic countermeasures warfare, jamming enemy radar installations from October 1942. This was first done as only such squadron in the RAF, but later in the war together with...

) - from TRE
Telecommunications Research Establishment
The Telecommunications Research Establishment was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force during World War II and the years that followed. The name was...
Naxos
Naxos radar detector
The FuG 350 Naxos radar warning receiver was a World War II German countermeasure to SHF band centimetric wavelength radar produced by a cavity magnetron...

– FuG 350, German H2S detection and homing device
Neptun – FuG 218, German high-VHF-band (158 & 187 MHz) night fighter radar, introduced mid/late 1944, generally used the Lichtenstein radar's Hirschgeweih antenna setup with shorter dipole elements
Newhaven – target marking blind using H2S then with visual backup marking - from Newhaven
Newhaven, East Sussex
Newhaven is a town in the Lewes District of East Sussex in England. It lies at the mouth of the River Ouse, on the English Channel coast, and is a ferry port for services to France.-Origins:...
Oboe
Oboe (navigation)
Oboe was a British aerial blind bombing targeting system in World War II, based on radio transponder technology. Oboe accurately measured the distance to an aircraft, and gave the pilot guidance on whether or not they were flying along a pre-selected circular route. The route was only 35 yards...

– British twin beam navigation system, similar to Knickebein but pulse-based
Parramatta – target marking by blind dropped ground markers - prefixed with 'musical' when Oboe-guided - from Parramatta
Parramatta, New South Wales
Parramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta...
Perfectos – device carried by night fighting Mosquito
De Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...

's for homing-in on German nightfighter radar transmissions/triggering IFF
Ping-Pong - ground-based plotting system for triangulating German radar site positions, allowing them to be attacked and disabled immediately prior to Overlord
Piperack – airborne jamming transmitter carried by a lead aircraft that produced a cone of jamming behind it within-which the following bomber stream
Bomber stream
The bomber stream was a tactic developed by the Royal Air Force Bomber Command to overwhelm the German aerial defences of the Kammhuber Line during World War II....

could shelter - carried by 100 Group
No. 100 Group RAF
No. 100 Group was a special duties group within RAF Bomber Command.It was formed on 11 November 1943 to consolidate the increasingly complex business of electronic warfare and countermeasures within one organisation. The group was responsible for the development, operational trial and use of...

Fortresses and Liberators - from TRE
Telecommunications Research Establishment
The Telecommunications Research Establishment was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force during World War II and the years that followed. The name was...
Pipsqueak – was a code name for a Huff-Duff IFF
Identification friend or foe
In telecommunications, identification, friend or foe is an identification system designed for command and control. It is a system that enables military and national interrogation systems to identify aircraft, vehicles, or forces as friendly and to determine their bearing and range from the...

mechanism used by the RAF in the Battle of Britain, to track the location of their fighter squadrons in the air. RAF fighters had an HF channel of their radios set to broadcast a signal for fourteen seconds of every minute. A clockwork mechanism regulated this broadcast.
Rebecca
Eureka beacon
The Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar was a transponder system used as a radio homing beacon by means of a Eureka ground emitter responding to queries from an airborne Rebecca interrogator.-Operation:...

– portable homing beacon system - airborne receiver - see also Eureka
Roderich - German 4W jamming transmitter for use against H2S
Rope - extended-length Window
Chaff (radar countermeasure)
Chaff, originally called Window by the British, and Düppel by the Second World War era German Luftwaffe , is a radar countermeasure in which aircraft or other targets spread a cloud of small, thin pieces of aluminium, metallized glass fibre or plastic, which either appears as a cluster of secondary...

suspended from small parachute and dropped by aircraft of 218
No. 218 Squadron RAF
No. 218 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was also known as No 218 Squadron after the Governor of the Gold Coast and people of the Gold Coast officially adopted the squadron.-World War I:...

and 617
No. 617 Squadron RAF
No. 617 Squadron is a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron based at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland. It currently operates the Tornado GR4 in the ground attack and reconnaissance role...

Squadrons intended to deceive German Seetakt
Seetakt radar
The shipborne Seetakt radar was developed in the 1930s and was used by the German Navy during World War II.In Germany during the late 1920s, Hans Hollmann began working in the field of microwaves, which were to later become the basis of almost all radar systems. In 1935 he published Physics and...

coastal radars - for Operation Glimmer
Operation Glimmer
Operation Glimmer was the codename for one of the deception operations used by the Allied forces during World War II in connection with the Normandy landings . In conjunction with Operation Taxable, this was conducted by aircraft of the Royal Air Force and small ships of the Royal Navy to trick the...

and Taxable
Operation Taxable
Operation Taxable was the codename for one of the deception operations used by the Allied forces during World War II in connection with the Normandy landings...
Seetakt
Seetakt radar
The shipborne Seetakt radar was developed in the 1930s and was used by the German Navy during World War II.In Germany during the late 1920s, Hans Hollmann began working in the field of microwaves, which were to later become the basis of almost all radar systems. In 1935 he published Physics and...

– a shipborne radar developed in the 1930s and used by the German Navy
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...

, later improved into Freya
Freya radar
Freya was an early warning radar deployed by Germany during World War II, named after the Norse Goddess Freyja. During the war over a thousand stations were built. A naval version operating on a slightly different wavelength was also developed as Seetakt...

air search radar.
Serrate
Serrate radar detector
Serrate was an Allied radar detection and homing device, used in Allied nightfighters to track German night fighters equipped with the earlier UHF-band BC and C-1 versions of the Lichtenstein radar during World War II....

– Allied Lichtenstein detection and homing device, used in night fighter to track down German night fighters with early UHF-band versions of the Lichtenstein airborne intercept radar
Shiver – first attempts at jamming Würzburg radar
Würzburg radar
The Würzburg radar was the primary ground-based gun laying radar for both the Luftwaffe and the German Army during World War II. Initial development took place before the war, entering service in 1940. Eventually over 4,000 Würzburgs of various models were produced...

using ground transmissions
Tinsel
Tinsel (codename)
The codename Tinsel referred to a type of equipment carried by RAF bombers and used for jamming Luftwaffe night-fighter controllers' speech radio-frequencies during the Second World War....

– British technique of feeding amplified engine noise via radio onto German night fighter voice frequencies to hinder them.
Turbinlite
Turbinlite
The Helmore/GEC Turbinlite was a 2,700 million candela searchlight fitted in the nose of a number of British Douglas Havoc night fighters during the early part of the Second World War and around the time of The Blitz....

– British searchlight & radar-equipped Douglas Havoc
Douglas DB-7
The Douglas A-20/DB-7 Havoc was a family of American attack, light bomber and night fighter aircraft of World War II, that served with several Allied air forces, principally those of the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and United States. The DB-7 was also used by the air forces of Australia, South...

intended for illuminating attacking Luftwaffe bombers at night
Village Inn – AGLT - British radar-aimed rear turret fitted to some Lancasters in 1944 - from TRE
Telecommunications Research Establishment
The Telecommunications Research Establishment was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force during World War II and the years that followed. The name was...
Wanganui – target marking by blind-dropped sky markers - prefixed with 'musical' when Oboe-guided - from Wanganui
Wanganui
Whanganui , also spelled Wanganui, is an urban area and district on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is part of the Manawatu-Wanganui region....
Window – strips of aluminium foil dropped to flood German radar and radar operated anti aircraft guns and searchlights - from TRE
Telecommunications Research Establishment
The Telecommunications Research Establishment was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force during World War II and the years that followed. The name was...
Würzburg
Würzburg radar
The Würzburg radar was the primary ground-based gun laying radar for both the Luftwaffe and the German Army during World War II. Initial development took place before the war, entering service in 1940. Eventually over 4,000 Würzburgs of various models were produced...

– German ground based air search radar, very accurate and often used to direct FlaK
X-Gerät, Y-Gerät
Y-Gerät (navigation)
Y-Gerät , also known as Wotan, was a radio navigation system used by the Luftwaffe in World War II to aid bomber navigation. It was preceded by the X-Gerät system....

– German beam guided blind bombing systems, also known as Wotan I and Wotan II
Z Equipment, British Infra red lamp system to allow friendly aircraft to be recognised by Village Inn-equipped bombers

Tactics

Bomber stream
Bomber stream
The bomber stream was a tactic developed by the Royal Air Force Bomber Command to overwhelm the German aerial defences of the Kammhuber Line during World War II....

– British tactic to overcome the Kammhuber Line
Kammhuber Line
The Kammhuber Line was the name given to the German night air defense system established in July 1940 by Colonel Josef Kammhuber.- Description :...
Gardening
Gardening (cryptanalysis)
In cryptanalysis, gardening was a term used at Bletchley Park, England, during World War II for schemes to entice the Germans to include known plaintext, which the British called "cribs," in their encrypted messages...

– RAF operations dropping mines in strategic sea lanes, usually at the request of the CoS Naval Liaison Officer based at High Wycombe
High Wycombe
High Wycombe , commonly known as Wycombe and formally called Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe until 1946,is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town...

. As a spinoff, Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...

cryptanalysts used German reports of Gardening activities to obtain decryption information on Enigma transmissions
Kammhuber Line
Kammhuber Line
The Kammhuber Line was the name given to the German night air defense system established in July 1940 by Colonel Josef Kammhuber.- Description :...

– British name for the German Himmelbett radar controlled air defence system
Operational research – among other it involved the statistical analysis of anomalies, some caused by the use of previously unknown German electronic equipment or tactics based on the equipment and for example lead to the development of the Bomber Stream.
Wilde Sau (Wild Boar) – German freelance night fighters, i.e. not parked round a visual beacon like the Zahme Sau (Tame Boar) fighters
Zahme Sau
Zahme Sau
Zahme Sau was a night fighter intercept tactic introduced by the German Luftwaffe in 1943. At the indication of a forthcoming raid, the fighters were be scrambled and collected together to orbit one of several radio beacons throughout Germany, ready to be directed en masse into the bomber stream...

(Tame Boar) – German tactic of guiding a night fighter 'parked' round a visual beacon, onto the incoming bomber stream by radar assisted ground commentary

Equipment and code words

Tactics

See also