Quirks of war 5: RADAR Traditional Cache
La Lunatica: As the owner has not responded to my previous log requesting that they check this cache I am archiving it.
Regards
Suzanne
La Lunatica - Volunteer UK Reviewer www.geocaching.com
Geocaching Guidelines
Geocaching Help Center
UK Geocaching Information
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(micro)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Part of the ‘Quirks of war’ series. This one can be grabbed on its own or picked up as a short detour from the canal walk/cycle. Please DO NOT park in the nearby private driveway. There’s a pull-in just up the road in front of the allotments, though be considerate when doing so as its often busy.
In 1939 the Graf Zeppelin slipped its moorings and headed down the North Sea to spy on the British coast. Its mission was to establish if Britain did indeed have a functioning radar network. The airship cruised the East coast with a team of scientists on-board along with their receiving equipment. They concluded that Britain had no radar and went home. The airship was broken up for scrap shortly afterwards.
The reality as we know was very different. Britain DID have radar and the airship was arguably the largest man-made airborne and crewed object ever to be seen on a radar screen -even today!
So why the complete inability of the Nazis to see this? The story wasn’t uncovered until long after the war when British and German scientists met up and the conversation started to flow. It transpired the Nazis had indeed detected the radar but had mistaken its 50 Hertz frequency for the hum of the National Grid power network which is also 50Hz. This was no coincidence as the two were linked together to keep the radar timing synchronised around the country to avoid stations interfering with each other.
As a result of this mistake, the Nazis paid little attention to British radar. Had they done so, the Battle of Britain may well have been lost and with it the whole war.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Qba'g sbetrg gung enqne eryvrf ba gur gnetrg'f novyvgl gb ersyrpg gur fvtany.
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
Loading Treasures