Chain Home
 Type 1 Chain Home Map shows modern aerial photographs of the locations of AMES Type 1 Chain Home. |
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Type 2 Chain Home Low Map shows modern aerial photographs of the locations of AMES Type 2 Chain Home Low. |
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Type 2 Chain Home Extra Low Map shows modern aerial photographs of the locations of Chain Home Extra Low. |
Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal Early Warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. The term also referred to the radar equipment itself, until it was given the official name Air Ministry Experimental Station Type 1 (AMES Type 1) in 1940. Chain Home was the first early warning radar network in the world, and the first military radar system to reach operational status. Its effect on the outcome of the war made it one of the most powerful weapons of what is today known as the "Wizard War"; as one historian put it:
Without CH it is doubtful whether the United Kingdom would have survived as a sovereign nation.
In 1934, Nikola Tesla claimed to have invented a death ray that could destroy aircraft, followed by a report in a German newspaper suggesting they had built something similar. The Tizard Committee formed to consider the possibility, and asked Robert Watt, a well-known expert on radio physics, to comment. Watt's assistant, Arnold Wilkins, calculated that a death ray was impossible, but suggested that radio could be used for long-range detection. In February 1935, a demonstration was arranged by placing a receiver near a BBC shortwave transmitter and flying an aircraft around the area; an oscilloscope connected to the receiver showed a pattern from the aircraft's reflection. Watt's team quickly built a prototype system using commercial shortwave radio hardware, and on 17 June 1935 it successfully detected an aircraft that happened to be flying by. Basic development was completed by the end of the year, with detection range on the order of 100 miles (160 km). Through 1936 attention was focused on a production version, and early 1937 saw the addition of height finding. The first five stations, covering the approaches to London, were installed by 1937 and began full-time operation in 1938.
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