THE WIZARD WAR

More revelations about British scientific intelligence activities during World War II, this time by the man who was the head of scientific intelligence on Britain's Air Staff and scientific adviser to MI6. He began by doing original research on the uses of infra-red as a kind of radar for detecting the movements of planes and enabling them to navigate at night. It was Churchill who called this battle of scientific secrets ""the wizard war."" The first big enemy secret weapon Jones tried to investigate was a radio-controlled torpedo--but no one in the Service Ministries took him seriously. Then it became apparent that Germany was sending out two radio beams by which the Luftwaffe's night bombers could safely, attack England, and so began the ""Battle of the Beams."" Jones located the sources of these radio beams and devised a counter-signal that ""bent"" or jammed the German beams and deprived the bombers of their terrible accuracy. But: the whole system Of Germany's night defenses still rested upon their new radar and only by understanding this device could Jones hope to crack their defenses. His observations led to the famous Bruneval night raid and the first British exposure to the state of German radar technology. Soon the Germans were sending V-1 and V-2 rockets against London, and Jones was on their trail. More specialized than The Ultra Secret or A Man Called Intrepid, but nonetheless told with verve.