Here is a strange photo of Emperor Hirohito inspecting some impressive “war tubas” in the 1930s. War tubas were a type of acoustic locator for detecting aircraft that pre-dated radar.
Found randomly via Futility Closet. Isn’t the internet wonderful late at night?
ADDENDUM: Also see Russian war tubas!
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COMMENTS / 17 COMMENTS
Neanderpundit » Cry Havoc! added these pithy words on Mar 03 08 at 10:08 pm[...] Cry Havoc! And let loose the Tubas of War. [...]
War Tubas « KuiperCliff added these pithy words on Mar 19 08 at 1:45 pm[...] Posted on March 19, 2008 by kuipercliff Hell yeah! Last month ComingAnarchy posted this photo of 1930s Japanese ‘war tubas’, a sort of military listening device, [...]
Arthur C Clarke (16-12-1917 - 19-3-2008) : the braincap added these pithy words on Mar 20 08 at 12:10 am[...] During WW2 Arthur C. Clarke worked on the British invention of the RADAR. Did you ever wonder what they used before there was radar (to detect airplanes)? The so called wartuba’s (via cominganarchy): [...]
I Dream Awake » Blog Archive » Another War Tuba added these pithy words on Apr 13 08 at 5:55 am[...] Japanese and Russian war tubas from Coming [...]
ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » I say there, war tuba. added these pithy words on Apr 13 08 at 8:12 am[...] British join the Japanese and the Russians in our collection of war [...]
ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » War tubas, eh! added these pithy words on May 24 08 at 1:03 am[...] the previously covered Japanese, Russian and British war [...]
Lexington Green added these pithy words on 28 Feb 08 at 3:41 pmThat is some damned fine looking equipment. It manages to be steampunk 80 years before its time, and hence weirdly retro-contemporary instead of antique-looking.
Lin Floyd added these pithy words on 01 Mar 08 at 3:46 pmIt is very difficult for me to believe that this weird rig ever detected anything smaller than a good sized city. I can see this as a weapon against airmen (clobber them with some high volume Bing Crosby) but a detector? Where is the detection equipment? Still, a cool picture!
Steve added these pithy words on 02 Mar 08 at 7:55 pmThese detected airplanes by listening for the sound of their engines. By rotating those tubes, which collected and focused the noise, you could get a direction. Based on the volume and listening for harmonies, you could approximate distance and size of the attacking force.
Sigivald added these pithy words on 03 Mar 08 at 11:37 pmTo echo what Steve said, it wasn’t just Japan that had such equipment. The US, Britain, and Germany all had them, before the Brits invented RADAR.
lmandin added these pithy words on 04 Mar 08 at 12:21 am“Every time I walk past these things I crave a root beer and Mama Burger.”
– Emperor Hirohito
Dale added these pithy words on 04 Mar 08 at 12:30 amtechnology, at it’s best in it’s own time.
Billy Bussey added these pithy words on 12 Mar 08 at 1:13 amIsn’t that just a very big ear trumpet?
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