Originally Posted by
Pontius Navigator
To correct my earlier error in ABC, here is an extract from the BBC.
Upon arrival the first thing was a few day's introduction to the equipment we were to operate. It went under the codename 'ABC', which stood for Airborne Cigar; I have no idea why they named it that. It consisted of three enormous powerful transmitters covering the radio voice bands used by the Luftwaffe.
To help identify the place to jam there was a panoramic receiver covering the same bands. The receiver scanned up and down the bands at high speed and the result of its travel was shown on a timebase calibrated across a cathode ray tube in front of the operator. If there was any traffic on the band it showed as a blip at the appropriate frequency along the line of light that was the timebase. When a 'blip' appeared, one could immediately spot tune the receiver to it and listen to the transmission. If the language was German then it only took a moment to swing the first of the transmitters to the same frequency, press a switch and leave a powerful jamming warble there to prevent the underlying voice being heard. The other two transmitters could then be brought in on other 'blips'. If 24 aircraft were flying, spread through the Bomber stream, then there were a potential 72 loud jamming transmissions blotting out the night fighters' directions.
The Germans tried all manner of devices to overcome the jamming, including having their instructions sung by Wagnerian sopranos. This was to fool our operators into thinking it was just a civilian channel and not worth jamming. I think ABC probably did a useful job, but who can say what difference it made.
Anyway, it was an absorbing time for keen, fit, young men who thought only of the challenges and excitements of their task and little of the risks they were about to run.
In the Cold War, through the 1960s, the C bombers had a comms jammer called Green Palm. This was a very simple version of ABC. It didn't have a dedicated operator as it was far less complicated. Basically on/off and channels 1-4.
It was known the the Russian fighters only had a 4-channel VHF radio. Rather than try and select a particular channel all bombers were directed to jam on channel 3. We were told that this was their broadcast frequency. That they only used one broadcast frequency in all the air defence districts was probably nonsense. It was replaced by the X band jammer.
Thanks for that Pontious, My old man was a squadron signal leader before all this 'new fangled' wizzard war stuff took to the skies. I recall he read Dr Alfred Prices' Instruments of Darkness' in the late 1970's wearing an appalled expression from beginning to end
Thanks for that Pontious, still looks like an invitation to the ball if you ask me!