Sector clock

Sector clock

A Sector clock was a round clock mounted on mahogany used at military airfields and observation posts in the United Kingdom to track the movements of enemy aircaft and control friendly aircraft.

History

They were originally known as 'colour change clocks' when introduced by the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 to monitor the movements of German aircraft. They played a significant role in the Battle of Britain and continued to be used by the Royal Air Force and Royal Observer Corps until the cold war period and are now sought after by collectors of aeronautica.

Function

The clock face had a 12 hour dial and an inner ring for the 24 hour time widely used by the military and was marked with red, blue and yellow triangular segments. The position of the sighted aircraft was recorded, together with the colour of the triangle beneath the second hand at the time of sighting. This data was then reported to sector headquarters such as Bentley Priory, where counters of corresponding colours representing each air raid were placed on a large table, which had a map of the UK overlaid and squared off with a British Modified Grid. The red, yellow and blue colour coding of each counter was changed every five minutes. As the plots of the raiding aircraft moved, the counters were pushed across the map by magnetic "rakes". This system enabled "Fighter Controllers" to see very quickly where each formation was heading and allowing an estimate to be made of possible targets. Because of the simplicity of the system decisions could be made quickly and easily.

External Links

* [http://home.earthlink.net/~modguide/opsroom.html 'The clock that saved Great Britain']
* [http://www.ww2-pathfinders.co.uk/Wyton%20sector%20clock.html RAF Wyton Sector Clock]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Clock ltd — Clock Limited Type Limited Industry Digital, Web, Mobile, Design, Communications Headquarters Hertfordshire / London, England …   Wikipedia

  • Clock DVA — Страна  Великобритания …   Википедия

  • Radical clock — In chemistry, a radical clock is a compound that assists in the indirect methodology to determine the kinetics of radical molecule reactions. This involves a unimolecular radical reaction with a known rate constant competing against a bimolecular …   Wikipedia

  • American Clock and Watch Museum — The American Clock and Watch Museum (AWCM), located in Bristol, Connecticut, is one of a very few museums in the United States dedicated solely to horology, which is the history, science and art of timekeeping and timekeepers. Located in the… …   Wikipedia

  • Battle of Britain — This article is about the Second World War battle. For other uses, see Battle of Britain (disambiguation). Battle of Britain Part of the Second World War …   Wikipedia

  • Royal Observer Corps — Ensign Active 1925–1996 Country …   Wikipedia

  • Kolomenskoye — ▪ sector, Moscow, Russia       locality and former royal estate, on the right bank of the Moskva River, since 1960 part of the southeastern sector of the city of Moscow, western Russia. The village of Kolomenskoye developed around an estate first …   Universalium

  • Termina — Este artículo o sección necesita referencias que aparezcan en una publicación acreditada, como revistas especializadas, monografías, prensa diaria o páginas de Internet fidedignas. Puedes añadirlas así o avisar …   Wikipedia Español

  • Media and Publishing — ▪ 2007 Introduction The Frankfurt Book Fair enjoyed a record number of exhibitors, and the distribution of free newspapers surged. TV broadcasters experimented with ways of engaging their audience via the Internet; mobile TV grew; magazine… …   Universalium

  • Secure Digital — SDHC redirects here. For the gene, see SDHC (gene). SD, SDHC, SDXC SD (top), miniSD, microSD cards Media type Memory card Capacity SDSC (SD): 1 MB to 2 GB although 4 GB cards are available SDHC: 4 GB to 3 …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”