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Concept
Metox radar detector
Summary
The R600A Metox, named after its manufacturer, was a pioneering high-frequency radar warning receiver (RWR) used by the German forces on U-boats from 1942-45. It was initially installed to receive signals used by British radars.
The Metox was manufactured by a small French company in occupied Paris. It was tuned to receive the signals used by many British radars of the early and mid-World War II era, notably the ASV Mk. II radar used by RAF Coastal Command to attack U-boats. It is not clear whether the design was German or French or both. It was installed on German U-boats starting in 1942 and used until the end of the war. The system given the official title of FuMB 1 (for Funkmessbeobachtungsgerät, Radio measuring device).
From July 1940, the British fitted the RAF Mk II AI (Airborne Interception) radar into Coastal Command aircraft for use as the Mk II "-metre ASV". The radar's known AI weaknesses — problems due to land clutter and inability to determine height, which caused its failure in night fighters — were no handicap in this new role. With two range scales, and , it could detect surfaced U-boats at up to and land at up to away, though a typical U-boat detection range was . The radar had a fairly crude display but was able to give the range and an approximate direction within an arc either side of the aircraft heading. Returns were lost in sea clutter once the aircraft was within about of the U-boat but usually by then, the aircraft was within visual range—and the U-boat was well into a crash dive.
Wing Commander Humphry de Verde Leigh developed the Leigh light, a powerful floodlight steered by the ASV radar, allowing aircraft to search for U-boats at night. The U-boat was tracked by the radar with the light switched off, following the radar track. Once the returns were lost, the light would be switched on bathing the U-boat in light. The first successful attack was on the on 5 July 1942. The sudden light was often the first indication to the U-boat crew that they had been found.
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