Entry details

Younghusband
Author

Younghusband

Date

February 28th, 2008

Tags

, ,

Comments

18 Comments so far.
Add yours.

Behold! The War Tuba!

Japanese war tubas

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, British, and Canadian war tubas.

Comments to this entry

kende
February 28, 2008
7:08 am
Wow.

...just wow.
Lexington Green
February 28, 2008
3:41 pm
That 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.
Dan tdaxp
February 28, 2008
6:06 pm
Behold, the power of steam!
Julia
March 1, 2008
4:04 am
war.... tubas.....

oh wow
Lin Floyd
March 1, 2008
3:46 pm
It 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
March 2, 2008
7:55 pm
These 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.
Neanderpundit » Cry Havoc!
March 3, 2008
10:08 pm
[...] Cry Havoc! And let loose the Tubas of War. [...]
Sigivald
March 3, 2008
11:37 pm
To 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
March 4, 2008
12:21 am
"Every time I walk past these things I crave a root beer and Mama Burger."

- Emperor Hirohito
Dale
March 4, 2008
12:30 am
technology, at it's best in it's own time.
Mr. T the Musician
March 9, 2008
6:36 am
"Let loose the high B flat!!!!"
Billy Bussey
March 12, 2008
1:13 am
Isn't that just a very big ear trumpet?
War Tubas « KuiperCliff
March 19, 2008
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
March 20, 2008
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
April 13, 2008
5:55 am
[...] Japanese and Russian war tubas from Coming [...]
ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » I say there, war tuba.
April 13, 2008
8:12 am
[...] British join the Japanese and the Russians in our collection of war [...]
ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » War tubas, eh!
May 24, 2008
1:03 am
[...] the previously covered Japanese, Russian and British war [...]
Chuck W
October 10, 2008
11:47 am
Wow! I've seen big tubas, but that is crazy. I wonder what they sounded like.