Contrary to popular belief, radar was NOT invented by the British at all but by the Germans who had thier patents stolen by both Britain and the US in the 1920s. In WW2 in Feb 1942, the British even went so far as to steal German radar components from France! This was "Operation Biting" which used British paras to secure a single German Wurzburg radar located on an exposed cliff near a beach in Bruneval, France. The raid was bold and brazen with Whitleys dropping two groups of paras- one group to seize the villa and grab radar components while a second was to hold off German reinforcements should they arrive. The mission went smooth in securing the villa guarded by one German soldier (villa was empty of civilians). But once the whistle was blown for the engineers to tackle the radar, gunfire burst out from a German pillbox a couple hundred yards away. Soon, German vehicles came approaching but were delayed by the second group working their way down to the radar. After action on the road they supported the first group which had engineers grab vital components. They also took pictures of the massive radar dish b/c the Germans had marked instructions on them!!! Then, both groups headed for the beach where the RN had LCAs waiting to pick them up while 3 gunboats poured fired towards the Germans moving forward. Once at sea, a RN destroyer plus a squadron of Spitfires escorted them back to Britain. The result? Nothing really sophisticated in the Wurzburg... except the knowledge of how to jam it when D-Day commenced in June 1944. Another result was the marriage of German and British tech to produce FDTs (Fighter Direction Transports) that sat off the French coast until French land and enemy radar sites were captured. Two men were killed and 6 missing (POWs). The need for the radar was so great at the time that the British commander had orders to kill Flight Sgt. C.W.H. Cox (the technical engineer) IF it looked like the Germans might take him! Fortunately, he and the engineering group escaped.

Actual site: http://ww2today.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Bruneval-site.jpg Wurzburg radar: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cEizVHndrWo/TuoIyMaqFWI/AAAAAAAAAKg/g2T_Y2Mm_QM/s1600/1051988.jpg