RA DA R A NT EN N A S 285 



called for the delivery of technical information, and sometimes for manu- 

 facturing drawings and one or more completed models. Usually the 

 antenna was designed and manufactured as part of a complete radar sys- 

 tem, sometimes the contract called for an antenna alone. 



After prehminary work had been undertaken the status of the job was 

 reviewed from time to time. If preliminary results and current mihtary 

 requirements warranted a manufacturing contract was eventually drawn 

 up and signed by Western Electric and the contracting government agency. 

 This contract called for delivery of manufactured radars or antennas ac- 

 cording to a predetermined schedule. 



Research and development groups of the Laboratories cooperated in war 

 as in peace to solve technical problems and accomplish technical tasks. 

 Under the pressure of war the two functions often overlapped and seemed 

 to merge, yet the basic differences usually remained. 



Members of the Research Department, working in New York and at the 

 Deal and Holmdel Radio Laboratories in New Jersey were concerned chiefly 

 with electrical design. It was their duty to understand fully electrical 

 principles and to invent and develop improved methods of meeting mili- 

 tary requirements. During the war it was usually their responsibility to 

 prescribe on the basis of theory and experiment the electrical dimensions 

 of each new radar antenna. 



A new and diificult requirement presented to the Research Department 

 was sometimes the cause of an almost personal competition between alter- 

 native schemes for meeting it. Some of these schemes were soon eliminated 

 by their own weight, others were carried side by side far along the road to 

 production. Even those that lost one race might reappear in another 

 as a natural winner. 



In the Development Groups working in New York and in the greatly 

 expanded Whippany Radio Laboratory activity was directed towards coor- 

 dination of all radar components, towards the establishment of a sound, 

 well integrated mechanical and electrical design for each component and 

 towards the tremendous task of preparing all information necessary for 

 manufacture. It was the job of these groups also to help the manufacturer 

 past the unavoidable snarls and bottlenecks which appeared in the hrst 

 stages of production. In addition development personnel frequently 

 tested early production models, sometimes in cooperation with the armed 

 forces. 



As we have intimated, research and development were indistinguishable 

 at times during the war. Members of the research department often found 

 themselves in factories and sometimes in aircraft and warships. Develop- 

 ment personnel faced and solved research problems, and worked closely 

 with research groups. 



