I am reading a book about 458 Sqn RAAF Wellingtons operating on night convoy and anti-submarine patrols over the Med. There are references to the aircraft's SE Radar and SE Operator. What was SE Radar? Tks.
Not a term I recognize or comes up in a search. Here is one of the aircraft involved in those operations: A 458 Squadron (RAAF) Vickers Wellington Mk XIV, F for Freddy, serial NB891, in flight over ...
SE = Secret Equipment or Special Equipment, the official name for the ASV (Air to Surface Vessel) radar. Tim
Found a link to SE radar. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?5241-Coastal-Command-S-E-Flooding-patrol Tim
I think that the SE would be the abbreviation for Special Equipment.I recollect the term being used at times to describe the duties of the No 101 Squadron Cigar ABC equipment operator...Special Equipment Operator, the 8th member of the crew.... not in the aircrew designation nomenclature but probably to restrict awareness of the equipment to those who needed to know...the censor ensured that any ABC equipped Lancaster had its special equipment image removed. ASV certainly gave the U Boat arm of the Kreigsmarine some headaches and they were always in the reaction mode to developments of ASV. They gained some technical intelligence from the downed Stirling at Rotterdam in January 1943 which was equipped with the new H2S bombing equipment, equivalent to ASV but it took 6 months or so to understand how the magnetron installed in the gear functioned. Meanwhile at sea the developments of ASV to the cm scale along with the Leigh Light caused the Kreigsmarine to counter the weapon by changing its operational techniques,some providing to make the situation worse...the introduction of the Metox receiver which gave early warning of approaching aircraft while on the surface gave a short term improvement but was soon seen as having failed to cope with the ASV Mark 111,the cm band equipment introduced in March 1943. By May 1943,the Battle of the Atlantic against the U Boat was at a watershed...long range patrol aircraft with ASV provided air surveillance over convoys ensuring the U Boat packs could never approach a convoy on the surface to enable attack preparations.Then, as the icing on the cake, the intelligence on U Boat operational activity was on hand from Ultra to reveal the operational patrols, to and fro, the planned interception of shipping
Gents all, Thanks for your responses. Makes sense now. A crew member mentioned in the book completed WOAG training in Canada then went to the UK where he completed further training at No. 1 Signal School and No. 3 Radio School Prestwick before joining 458 Sqn in Nth Africa. His RAF record card shows under "Courses of Instruction: Subject - W/AG and ASV." On the same card the types of aircraft flown shows Wellington ASV. Tks.
It's of interest to see the method that Coastal Command employed to man the ASV gear depending on the type of aircraft being operated. For the smaller aircraft such as the Wellington,the designation Wireless Operator (Air Gunner) performed Wireless and possibly ASV operation in addition to gunnery duties but were badged as AG.So from that it would appear that others may well have operated the ASV equipment depending on skills and availability of such dedicated AGs. Larger Coastal Command aircraft,such as Sunderlands,Liberators and Fortresses having the capacity for long length patrols carried ground trades whose primary role was their trade but were tasked with gunnery duties and one trade with ASV as an additional duty.None were badged as Air Gunner unless rated by structured training. Wireless Operator Mechanic (Air Gunner) However this trade was additionally trained and tasked with ASV operation. Air Gunner [Flight Mechanic. (Airframes)] Air Gunner [Flight Mechanic .(Engines)]
