I?^ ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOR WAR 



ment in the field of radar were intensified and the increased activities of 

 American companies placed a new emphasis on the benefits to be derived 

 from a freer interchange between them and comparable British firms. At 

 this time there was duplication in nearly all lines of radar research and 

 development in the two countries. In February 1942, a memorandum was 

 prepared by OSRD proposing an agreement among various British and 

 American companies whereby information would flow promptly and auto- 

 matically between companies certified to receive radar information. The 

 two governments undertook to collect and disseminate radar reports for 

 their respective companies, but assumed no responsibility for protecting 

 commercial rights to the information beyond the maintenance of full rec- 

 ords of distribution. 



With the concurrence of the War and Navy Departments the proposed 

 plan was presented to Bell Telephone Laboratories, General Electric Com- 

 pany, Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, Radio Corpora- 

 tion of America and later to other companies. Each company agreed upon 

 the condition that a similar agreement be reached with the principal British 

 firms. In August 1942, the Central Radio Bureau in England made a pro- 

 posal along the lines of the American memorandum to appropriate British 

 firms. Most of the British firms invited to join the interchange plan ac- 

 cepted and the plan was put in operation on September i, 1942, between 

 six American companies and eight British companies. Several others were 

 added later. Certain specific devices and information were excluded from 

 the exchange. The actual exchange of reports was carried out in the Liaison 

 Office in Washington and the Central Radio Bureau in London. Complete 

 records were kept of the reports put into the plan by each company and 

 the distribution of the reports to firms in the opposite country. Frequently 

 laboratory reports from the Radiation Laboratory were included in the ex- 

 change plan, and likewise the British put in many reports from their Gov- 

 ernment laboratories. Both the Central Radio Bureau and the Liaison Office 

 made the reports available to the Services and to Government laboratories 

 generally. In May 1945, the participating firms were solicited for their 

 views concerning continuation of the exchange plan, and after several of 

 them had expressed the view that the plan should be terminated follow- 

 ing the cessation of hostilities with Germany, it was ended on July i, 1945. 



In the spring of 1943, the American program of research on radar was 

 being expanded greatly under the auspices of the OSRD and the two Serv- 

 ices. Development of radar apparatus also had been progressing favorably 

 in Great Britain and a large research program was under way there. It 

 was evident that more could be accomplished and technical manpower bet- 

 ter utilized if the research programs of the two countries were co-ordinated. 

 Accordingly, Karl T. Compton headed an American group which went to 

 England in May 1943 to discuss methods of co-ordination. The group 



