Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine July 2017 - 62

DOI. No. 10.1109/MAES.2017.160261

Book Review:
Radar Men: A.P. Rowe and John Strath in War and Peace
Don Sinnott
Xlibris, Bloomington, IN, USA, 2016, 328 pages

Review by Hugh Griffiths, University College London, UK

T

he list of books on the history of radar is a long one. Most concentrate on technology and events, since these tend to be well
documented and relatively uncontroversial. But equally, if not
more interesting, are the stories of the individuals behind these actions. This is often more difficult, since it involves a good deal
of scholarly research from diverse sources and critical analysis to
build up a full picture.
This book falls into the latter category, and does a splendid job.
Its subjects are two characters of British origin who made their
mark in Australia.
A.P. 'Jimmy' Rowe was born in Cornwall in 1898. It was his
initiative, as a young civil servant in 1934, that led to the formation
of the Tizard Committee, and hence to the development of radar in
the UK. He served as Superintendent of the Telecommunications
Research Establishment (TRE) in the UK during WW2, and oversaw some of the key developments of radar which swung the battle
in favour of the Allies. After WW2 he emigrated to Australia to
take up a post in the Australian Defence Scientific Service, and then
served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Adelaide from 1948
to 1958. He returned to the UK in his retirement and died in 1976.
John Strath was born in Scotland in 1916. He graduated from
Edinburgh University in 1939, and was recruited to work at TRE
at Worth Matravers on the south coast of England, which moved to
Malvern in 1942 following the Bruneval Raid. He worked on the
H2S airborne radar, and on X-band radar, then after WW2 on the
fledgling British nuclear weapon program. But in the early 1950s
he was attracted by an advertisement to recruit scientists to the
Australian Defence Scientific Service, and emigrated to Australia in 1952. There he was a key figure in the program that led to
Australia's Jindalee HF Over-The-Horizon radar system and hence

62

to the Jindalee Operational
Radar Network (JORN) that
exists today. He died in 2009.
The author, Don Sinnott,
has spent his career in the
Australian Defence Science
and Technology Organisation
(DSTO), and had worked
directly with Strath. He has
been able to consult personal
papers, as well as records of
the Australian Defence Scientific Service which were
previously classified. These
sources have provided a deep
and unique insight into the
personalities and achievements of the two protagonists. The book
does not pull its punches; both of its subjects had successes and
disappointments. Both were administrators rather than researchers, and both had huge influence on the development of specific
aspects of radar. Although their careers overlapped, at TRE and in
Australia, they did not directly interact. By placing their stories and
their achievements side by side, Don Sinnott achieves the rather
special trick of understanding both their technical achievements
and their personalities.
All of these factors combine to give a book that is well researched and which provides information and insight that will not
be found in other sources. Above all, it is a delight to read, and can
be recommended to anyone interested in radar history, particularly
of this period.

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

JULY 2017



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