The FuG 227 ''Flensburg'' was a German passive radar receiver developed by
Siemens & Halske
Siemens & Halske AG (or Siemens-Halske) was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens.
It was founded on 12 October 1847 as ''Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske'' by Werner von Siemens and Johann Geor ...
and introduced into service in early 1944. It used wing and tail-mounted
dipole antenna
In radio and telecommunications a dipole antenna or doublet
is one of the two simplest and most widely used antenna types, types of antenna; the other is the monopole antenna, monopole. The dipole is any one of a class of antennas producin ...
e and was sensitive to the mid-
VHF band frequencies of 170–220
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...
, subharmonics of the Monica radar's 300 MHz transmissions. It allowed
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 ...
nightfighters to home in on the
Monica tail warning radar fitted to
RAF bombers.
An RAF bomber with Monica radar crashed in German-occupied territory in February 1943 allowing for the development of Flensburg. The British set was captured just seven days into its operational life in February 1943. On the morning of 13 July 1944, a
Junkers Ju 88G-1 night fighter of 7.''Staffel''/
NJG 2 equipped with Flensburg landed at
RAF Woodbridge
Royal Air Force Woodbridge, or more simply RAF Woodbridge, is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Woodbridge and around 7 miles north-east of Ipswich, in the county of Suffolk, England.
Constructed in 1943 as a RAF military airfi ...
by mistake and was captured. When British military scientists examined the Flensburg equipment, they quickly realised its purpose and informed the RAF, who ordered Monica to be withdrawn from all
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 ...
aircraft.
Subsequently, further variants of Flensburg (Flensburg II to Flensburg VI) were developed for detecting Allied
radar jammers. Only Flensburg II and III were used operationally.
References
Further reading
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External links
Analysis report on the Ju 88 at Woodbridge(PDF format; 44 kB)
World War II German radars
Avionics
Radar warning receivers
Military equipment introduced from 1940 to 1944
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