Edward Addison
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Air Vice Marshal Air vice-marshal (Air Vce Mshl or AVM) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries which have historical British infl ...
Edward Barker Addison, (4 October 1898 – 4 July 1987) was a senior British
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
(RAF) officer who served as Air Officer Commanding No. 100 Group from 1943 to 1945 during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The group jammed Axis radar and communications systems from the air and Addison was its only commander.


Early career

Addison was born on 4 October 1898 and served with the
Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...
and the RAF during the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. After the war he studied at
Sidney Sussex College Sidney Sussex College (historically known as "Sussex College" and today referred to informally as "Sidney") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1 ...
in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
and then re-entered the RAF in 1921. His studies continued, gaining his master's degree from Cambridge in 1926 and the
Engineer's degree An engineer's degree is an advanced academic degree in engineering which is conferred in Europe, some countries of Asia and Latin America, North Africa and a few institutions in the United States. The degree may require a thesis but always require ...
from the École Supérieure d'Électricité of Paris in 1927.Falconer, pp. 179–181.


Battle of the Beams

As a result of British scientific intelligence's discovery of the '' Knickebein'' beam system being used by the ''
Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
'' during June 1940, No. 80 Wing RAF was established at RAF Radlett to operate countermeasures. Addison, now a
wing commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr or W/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Wing commander is immediately se ...
, had recently returned from the Middle East and was appointed to command the new unit. The technical design of countermeasures was handled by a section under Dr Robert Cockburn at the Telecommunications Research Establishment at
Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester. In the Unit ...
. Both organisations were given the highest priority during the ''Luftwaffe'' 's night-bombing Blitz against British cities.Jones, p. 176. 80 Wing worked under the immediate control of the
Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...
but kept in close touch with the Fighter Command operations room at RAF Bentley Priory. The first jammers developed at Swanage were simple
diathermy Diathermy is electrically induced heat or the use of high-frequency electromagnetic currents as a form of physical therapy and in surgical procedures. The earliest observations on the reactions of the human organism to high-frequency electromagn ...
sets to transmit a 'mush' of noise on the ''Knickebein'' frequency. These were quickly replaced by higher powered equipment called '
Aspirin Aspirin () is the genericized trademark for acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to reduce pain, fever, and inflammation, and as an antithrombotic. Specific inflammatory conditions that aspirin is ...
s' (to counteract the ''Knickebein'' beams, which were codenamed 'Headaches'). ''Knickebein'' was soon superseded by ''X-Gerät'' and ''Y-Gerät'' directional beams, which in turn were eventually jammed by 80 Wing in the Battle of the Beams. In early November intelligence pointed to a major operation being planned by the ''
Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
'' against the
Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...
( Coventry Blitz Operation Moonlight Sonata/''Unternehmen Mondscheinsonate''). The operation orders to the ''X-Gerät'' stations on 14 November were intercepted but could not be deciphered by
Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and Bletchley Park estate, estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Allies of World War II, Allied World War II cryptography, code-breaking during the S ...
in time, although 80 Wing's aircraft detected the ''X-Gerät'' radio frequencies. Addison telephoned the Air Staff's scientific intelligence adviser, Dr R.V. Jones and they guessed the frequencies to jam but the jamming had no effect.
Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
was bombed that night (the Coventry Blitz) with 554 killed and 865 seriously injured. Addison and Jones investigated the failure and the
Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...
discovered from the ''X-Gerät'' equipment in a shot down aircraft that it contained a filter set to 2,000 Hz, whereas the jammers were set to 1,500 Hz. Thereafter ''X-Gerät'' was jammed by 80 Wing and the accuracy of German bombing declined until the Blitz ended in May 1941. On 23–24 April 1942, the ''Luftwaffe'' began a new campaign against the UK (the '' Baedeker Blitz'' ) with a sharp raid on
Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...
, followed by a series of raids on other provincial cities. Scientific intelligence gave about six weeks' warning that these raids would employ ''X-Gerät'' with a new supersonic
modulation Signal modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform in electronics and telecommunication for the purpose of transmitting information. The process encodes information in form of the modulation or message ...
frequency. 80 Wing was able to add supersonic modulation to its jammers but was briefed not to employ this countermeasure until listening stations had confirmed that the ''Luftwaffe'' was using the new technique. The designers of the listening receivers had overlooked the fact that supersonic reception involves a wider bandwidth than normal in the high frequency circuits of the receivers. Once this was corrected, 80 Wing was able to jam the beam and reduce the 50 per cent success rate (bombs on target) of the early ''Baedeker'' raids to 13 per cent and the campaign petered out. R.V. Jones estimated that the delay in allowing 80 Wing to begin jamming cost about 400 lives and another 600 serious injuries, while
Anti-Aircraft Command Anti-Aircraft Command (AA Command, or "Ack-Ack Command") was a British Army command of the Second World War that controlled the Territorial Army anti-aircraft artillery and searchlight formations and units defending the United Kingdom. Origin ...
was forced to redeploy hundreds of guns to cover potential ''Baedeker'' targets. No. 80 Wing was later incorporated in 100 (Bomber Support) Group, which was formed at Radlett in November 1943 under Addison (by now promoted to
air commodore Air commodore (Air Cdre or Air Cmde) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...
and later to
air vice-marshal Air vice-marshal (Air Vce Mshl or AVM) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometime ...
) to operate radio-countermeasures as part of
RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the Strategic bombing during World War II#Europe, strategic bombing of Germany in W ...
. By the end of the war 100 (BS) Group was based at Bylaugh Hall in
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
with 13 operational squadrons flying a variety of aircraft equipped for radio countermeasures and
De Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the World War II, Second World War. Unusual in that its airframe was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or " ...
intruders directly to attack ''Luftwaffe''
night fighter A night fighter (later known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor post-Second World War) is a largely historical term for a fighter aircraft, fighter or interceptor aircraft adapted or designed for effective use at night, during pe ...
s.Falconer, pp. 33, 118–9, 273.


Later career

Addison retired from the RAF in 1955 to a civilian career, maintaining a close involvement with the electronics field until his retirement as Director of Intercontinental Technical Services in 1975. In 1977 Addison appeared in the BBC television documentary series '' The Secret War'', in episode one; "The Battle of the Beams". Addison died at
Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge district in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a cro ...
, Surrey, on 4 July 1987, aged 88.


Notes


References


Basil Collier, ''History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series: The Defence of the United Kingdom'', London: HM Stationery Office, 1957.
* Jonathan Falconer, ''Bomber Command Handbook 1939–1945'', Stroud: Sutton, 1998, . * R.V. Jones, ''Most Secret War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939–1945'', London: Hamish Hamilton 1978/Coronet 1979, . * Brig N.W. Routledge, ''History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery: Anti-Aircraft Artillery 1914–55'', London: Royal Artillery Institution/Brassey's, 1994,


External sources


Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Vice Marshal E B Addison


, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Addison, Edward 1898 births 1987 deaths Military personnel from Cambridge Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge British Army personnel of World War I Commanders of the Legion of Merit Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Royal Air Force air marshals Royal Air Force personnel of World War I Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Flying Corps officers