WWII British Secret Radar Team Member Makes a Delivery to JAC - 63 Years Later

  • Published
  • By Peter G. Park, Commander's Action Group
  • JIOCEUR Analytic Center
ROYAL AIR FORCE MOLESWORTH, England --  For ninety-one year old Jeanne Pettifer it was just a day's work in 1943 -1944 delivering then-secret radar devices to RAF Molesworth - and sampling Southern fried chicken for the first time.

Radar was invented by the British before the war and the Chain Home and Chain Low ground based radar stations along the coast of Great Britain were key to winning the Battle of Britain against the attacking German Luftwaffe, thus removing the danger of Operation Sea Lion, the planned German invasion of England.

In 1943, some 6 months after the B-17s of the 303rd Bomb Group (Heavy) at Molesworth arrived in October 1942, the new airborne radar was fielded first to special "Pathfinder" units of the Royal Air Force and U.S. Army Air Corps, and later to regular units like the 303rd.

By 1944, H2S airborne radar was enabling accurate navigation and target identification to be achieved by British and American crews taking part in the strategic bombing offensive. 

Bored with office jobs, Jeanne heard about openings for civilian drivers for the British Telecommunication Research Establishment (TRE) at the RAF Defford aerodrome which was the radar experimental arm of the Air Ministry. Unusual for a woman in this country at that time, Jeanne had a driver's license,  She was hired immediately.

She was given the keys to a van and sent around the country delivering radar components to air bases including RAF Molesworth. Only later was she provided a guard to protect the highly sensitive equipment. Often because of weather or the late hour she had to stay over on the American bases and sampled foods unavailable in wartime rationed Britain.

After touring Molesworth on August 20th and seeing the few remaining hangars - including where the Bob Hope show performed in July 1943 - she had lunch with a group of JAC analysts who were struck by her descriptions of the disorganization of a lot of things during the war, and how improvisation and the capacity for creative thinking by the ordinary person on the ground which is so important in any war, was particularly critical in the circumstances at that time.

What did Jeanne Pettifer deliver on August 20th 2008? She 'delivered' her son, Dr. James Pettifer, a professor at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom and noted British Balkans expert.  Dr. Pettifer also serves as a consultant to the JIOCEUR Analytic Center at RAF Molesworth.
.