The Papers of the Naval Radar Trust

The Naval Radar Trust was formed in 1985 with the intention of assembling a set of archives on British Naval Radar. The plan was that this would form an historical record of this aspect of WWII. The Trust was supported by Professor John Coales and many other influential scientists and naval personnel associated with WWII radar.

The Trust was wound up c1998 shortly after the deaths of John Coales and Derek Howse.

The papers gathered by the members of the Naval Radar Trust mostly consist of reminiscences by over 150 staff who worked on British Naval Radar during WWII. These reminiscences survive in letters and transcripts of interviews, as well as some original technical papers retained by interviewees. The Trust also gathered material from other sources such as the Public Record Office and publications, therefore copies survive here of relevant material held elsewhere. The collection also includes the papers of the pioneering radio engineer Eric Megaw, a key figure in the development of the magnetron and cavity magnetron.

The papers of the Naval Radar Trust were deposited at Churchill Archives Centre by Professor J. F. Coales in 1995 and 1999.

The papers remain in the order in which they were deposited.

The collection is owned by Churchill College, Cambridge.

The collection is open for consultation (except where items are inaccessible for conservation reasons) by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Churchill Archives Centre is open from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. A prior appointment and two forms of identification are required.

Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holders and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff.

Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of the Naval Radar Trust, NVRT

Other papers relevant to the history of Naval Radar can be found in the Naval Radar Trust Associated (ref. NVRT AS) collection at Churchill Archives Centre.

A copy of this finding aid and a box list are available for consultation at Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, the National Register of Archives, London and on the Janus website.

This collection (fonds) level description and catalogue was prepared by Louise King of Churchill Archives Centre in November 2003 using information from a box list created by Mr Stanley Thomas in 2000 and from the papers themselves. A list of 19 further boxes was produced by Katharine Thomson in 2007.