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| Country of origin | Germany |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1941 |
| No. built | circa 1500 |
| Range | up to 70 km (44 mi) |
| Altitude | 0-90º |
| Diameter | 7.5 m (24 ft 7 in) |
| Azimuth | 0-360º |
| Precision | ±15 m (49 ft 2½ in) |
The Würzburg radar was deployed by Germany during World War II. It was the primary ground-based gun-laying radar for both the Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht for the entire war. The system entered service in 1940, and eventually over 5,500 were produced. It took its name from the city of Würzburg for no other reason than the project leader liked geographical names.
Development started as a private venture by Telefunken before the war. Under the direction of Dr. Wilhelm Runge, the company's lab director, they developed a highly accurate system based on a klystron tube operating in the range of 54 to 53 cm (553 to 566 MHz) - an extremely short wavelength for the time - with a pulse length of 2 microseconds, a peak power of 7 to 11 kW, and a PRF of 3,750 Hz. Würzburg used a fairly large 3 m paraboloid dish antenna, which could be "folded" along the horizontal midline for travel. It had a maximum range of about 29 kilometers (18 miles), and was accurate to about 25 m in range. Known as FuG 62, the basic system was first accepted into service in 1940, and eventually 4,000 of this basic layout were delivered.
Several versions of the basic Würzburg system were deployed over the course of the war. The first, Würzburg A, was operated manually and required the operators to center the target by maintaining a maximum signal on their oscilloscope display. Since the single strength changed on its own for other reasons as well, this was not very accurate, and generally required the use of a searchlight to spot the target once the radar had settled on an approximate position. An experimental Würzburg B added an infra-red detector, but in general these devices were adbandoned during the war.
Improvements to the aiming system led to the introduction of the Würzburg C. The C model was aimed by sending the signal out of one of two slightly off-center feed horns in the middle of the large steerable paraboloid dish antenna. Both returns were sent to an oscilloscope display, the electronics quickly switching back and forth between the two lobes. The result appeared as two closely separated "spikes" which the operator attempted to keep at the same height on the display. This system offered much faster feedback on changes in target position, and since any change in signal strength would effect both lobes equally, the operator no longer had to "hunt" for the maximum signal point. An almost identical system was used by the US's first gun-laying radar, the SCR-268.
The definitive Würzburg D, introduced in 1941, added a conical scanning system, using an offset receiver feed called a "Quirl" that spun at 25 Hz. The resulting signal was slightly offset from the centerline of the dish, rotating around the axis and overlapping it in the center. If the target aircraft was to one side of the antenna's axis, the system would see the strength of the signal grow and fade as the beam swept across it, allowing the system to move the dish in the direction of the maximum signal and thereby track the target. Additionally, the area of the maximum signal can be made smaller than the beam width antenna itself could provide, leading to much improved accuracy. Würzburg D's accuracy was on the order of 2 degrees in azimuth and 3 degrees in elevation. In-service units were generally upgraded to the D model in the field.
Even the D model was not accurate enough for direct laying of guns or the operation of night fighters. In order to provide the system with much greater accuracy, the FuG 65 Würzburg-Riese ("Giant Würzburg") was developed. Based on the same basic circuitry as the D model, the new version featured a much larger 7.4 m antenna and a more powerful transmitter with a range of up to 70 kilometers (44 miles). Azimuth accuracy was 0.2 degrees and elevation 0.1 degree, more than enough for direct gun-laying. The system was now too large to be carried on a truck trailer, and was instead adapted for operation from a railway carriage as the Würzburg-Riese-E, of which 1,500 were produced during the war. The Würzburg-Riese Gigant was a very large version with a 160 kW transmitter, which never entered production.
A Würzburg system at Bruneval on the coast of France was attacked by British Paratroopers in Operation Biting. The electronics of the system were brought back to Britain for examination so that counter measures could be devised. The British technicians who examined it were impressed by the modularization for the system, which aided fault location. As a consequence the German maintenance technicians did not require the same level of electronics knowledge which the British technicians had to have to maintain British equipment.
See also
Reference
ORIGINS OF GERMAN RADAR: SEETAKT, FREYA, WUERZBURG. There is a open source verification for this text on the home page Greg Goebel / In The Public Domain.
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