Dowding system

The Dowding system was the world's first wide-area ground-controlled interception network, controlling the airspace across the United Kingdom from northern Scotland to the southern coast of England. It used a widespread dedicated land-line telephone network to rapidly collect information from Chain Home (CH) radar stations and the Royal Observer Corps (ROC) in order to build a single image of the entire UK airspace and then direct defensive interceptor aircraft and anti-aircraft artillery against enemy targets. The system was built by the Royal Air Force just before the start of World War II, and proved decisive in the Battle of Britain. The Dowding system was developed after tests demonstrated problems relaying information to the fighters before it was out of date. Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, commander of RAF Fighter Command, solved the problem through the use of hierarchical reporting chains. Information was sent to Fighter Command Headquarters (FCHQ) central filter room at Bentley Priory and used to prepare a map of the battle. Details of the map were then relayed to the Group and Sector headquarters, where operators re-created the map at a scale covering their area of operations. Looking at the maps, commanders could make decisions on how to employ their forces quickly and without clutter. Instructions were relayed to the pilots only from the squadron's sector control rooms, normally co-located at the fighters' operating bases. The Dowding system is considered key to the success of the RAF against the German air force (Luftwaffe) during the Battle of Britain. The combination of early detection and rapid dissemination of that information acted as a force multiplier, allowing the fighter force to be used at extremely high rates of effectiveness. In the pre-war period, interception rates of 30% to 50% were considered excellent; that meant that over half the sorties sent out would return without having encountered the enemy. During the Battle, average rates were around 90%, and several raids were met with 100% success rates.

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Concepts associés (10)

Le bombardier passera toujours au travers

thumb|upright|Sir Stanley Baldwin à la fin des années 1920. « Le bombardier passera toujours au travers » () est une expression utilisée par Stanley Baldwin en 1932, dans le discours « Une peur pour l’avenir » (A Fear for the Future) au Parlement britannique. L’argument était qu’indépendamment de la défense aérienne, les bombardiers passeront en nombre suffisant pour détruire des villes.

Ground-controlled interception

Ground-controlled interception (GCI) is an air defence tactic whereby one or more radar stations or other observational stations are linked to a command communications centre which guides interceptor aircraft to an airborne target. This tactic was pioneered during World War I by the London Air Defence Area organization, which became the Royal Air Force's Dowding system in World War II, the first national-scale system.

Huff-Duff

thumb|upright=1.25|Huff-duff du croiseur HMS Belfast Huff-Duff est le surnom donné à un système de radiogoniométrie utilisé comme dispositif de repérage pendant et après la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Cet appareil est l'un principaux artisans de la victoire alliée dans la bataille de l'Atlantique. Ce nom évoque « HF/DF », abréviation de High Frequency/Direction Finding (« Haute fréquence/Découverte de direction »). Utiliser un ou plusieurs récepteurs radio pour localiser l'origine d'une émission radio-électrique est aussi vieille que la TSF elle-même.