ASV Mk II Radar--Whuzzit Look Like?

[sequoiaranger]

I am hoping to (someday) do a whif shipboard night torpedo-bomber, 1942-style, with British ASV radar. I'm looking for close-up drawings or photographs of the type of radar featured on early Fairey Barracudas. I have seen pics of the Mk X, with a radome in the rear fuselage, but that's not what I want.

I have seen a Wimpy bomber (Stickleback) with all kinds of antennae, but I don't want that, either.

I have seen nice pics of mid-war Barracudas with a Yagi-like aerial on top of each wing, canted out at maybe a 30-degree angle. BUT---was there some other antennae associated with that, i.e. dipoles along the fuselage, etc.? I went through six pages of Google, ten or so references to a page, and have NOT found my answer. I got my best description/photos on the 60th try, but "gave up" the effort for the time being out of sheer weariness.

Even the early ASV setup on a Swordfish or Albacore will do, but not the kind that was a huge hump between the wheels and that was radar-only---I want my "Fairey Marlin" to have both radar AND strike capability.

[Gondor]

From the top of my head I remember that the Firefly and a few other aircraft carried a podded radar which looked a little like a smallish fuel tank under the forward fuselage. However if this is the American radar that I think it is then you could always fit the radar pod under one of the wings which is what the Americans did to their radar on their fighters leaving the fuselage hard point for a fuel tank.

Gondor

[pyro-manic]

This says that only the two wing-mounted aerials are required, so I'd go with that.

Barracuda Mk.II with radar and a torpedo:

[sequoiaranger]

>I remember that the Firefly and a few other aircraft carried a podded radar which looked a little like a smallish fuel tank under the forward fuselage.<

Thanks, but I need the space under the fuselage for the torpedo. I like the canted-out Yagi look; I just need to know if there is anything that goes along with it (like fuselage dipoles or something) that I can't see in the few photos I have of the arrangement.

[sequoiaranger]

Pyro--thanks for that. I read that on my 60th try, but it (or another site) said,

"The transmitter was an array of ten dipoles, installed in five (later reduced to four) pairs on top of the fuselage of the aircraft. The receiving antennas were Sterba arrays, fitted to the sides of the fuselage."

The above is for the sideways-looking radar of greater resolution (I think looking for subs) and was a longer arrangement (used on a Whitley, I think).

I tried to google "Sterba arrays" and found nothing useful. In my mind's eye I see a series of "T"s along the fuselage sides, kinda like some Japanese ASW planes, but was that similar to British radars?

I would be fine with just the two Yagis if indeed that is really all that was needed. See the nice pic below:

[rickshaw]

"Sterba" aerials are a variation on Yagi.  They are arrayed in a line, inline, rather than parallel as in a single Yagi.  They give good horizontal dispersion whereas Yagi give good vertical dispersion of radar beams.  The result is a wide, flat beam.  The wing aerials are for detecting the echo.

[sequoiaranger]

>"Sterba" aerials are a variation on Yagi.  They are arrayed in a line, inline, rather than parallel as in a single Yagi.  They give good horizontal dispersion<

I think those are the "rows of "T"s" I mentioned. OK--so far so good.

>whereas Yagi give good vertical dispersion of radar beams.  The result is a wide, flat beam.  The wing aerials are for detecting the echo.<

Confused here. By "wing aerials" in the above sentence, do you mean the Yagis on top of the wing? So that there "needs" to be some Sterbas somewhere as transmitters?

Or different aerials?

The Japanese array to which I was refering had "Sterba arrays" on the wing leading edge, and other "Sterba arrays" on the fuselage sides. Which ones were transmitters and receivers I have no clue.

The quote/URL for the ASV Mk II said something to the effect that the Yagis on top were all that were needed for both transmitting and receiveing because of...pulsed timing of the beams resulting in no interference, or some such. Make sense?

[rickshaw]

There are some Sterba/Yagis on the forward edge, if you look closely.  There would also be some along the fuselage sides to provide ~360 degree coverage.

[Gondor]

>I remember that the Firefly and a few other aircraft carried a podded radar which looked a little like a smallish fuel tank under the forward fuselage.<

Thanks, but I need the space under the fuselage for the torpedo. I like the canted-out Yagi look; I just need to know if there is anything that goes along with it (like fuselage dipoles or something) that I can't see in the few photos I have of the arrangement.

sequoiaranger

I wrote a bit further that the americans put the pod under the wings thus freeing up the space under the fuselage.

Gondor

[pyro-manic]

That podded system was the American AN/APS-4: http://www.duxfordradiosociety.org/restoration/equip/aps4/aps4.html

I think the large side-scanning array was only mounted on larger aircraft like the Sunderland.

[sequoiaranger]

Jeffrey Fontaine gave me a link to a radar site:

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref/Radar/Radar-10.html

that has a drawing of an Avenger with an "ASB Medium-wave radar" (scroll down a ways) showing a Yagi under each wing (and no Sterbas or other antennae).

Taking a quote from the "Millionaire" show, I think the above, along with the pics of the Barracuda, have convinced me that "my" radar setup for the "Fairey Marlin" night torpedo-bomber whif will consist of the two canted-out Yagis on top of the wing. That should give any viewer visual realization that the bomber has radar capability.

Thanks to all who responded!