Memories of the Bureau, 1946 to 1962
Foreword
Terminology
Prologue
Preface
Chapter 1: The Warren Years, 1946 to 1950
Warren the Man
Warren Joins the Bureau
Wartime Perceptions and Attitudes
Return to Civvy Street
Frosterley
People in the Bureau
Re-establishing and Reorganising the Bureau
Reorganisation of Central Office
The Position of Chief Scientific Officer
Post-War Reorganisation
The Haldane Story
Public Weather Services
The New South Wales Divisional Office
The Victorian Divisional Office
The Queensland Divisional Office
The South Australian Divisional Office
The Western Australian Divisional Office
The Tasmanian Divisional Office
Pre-war Services for Civil Aviation
Post-War Meteorological Service for Aviation
Indian Ocean Survey Flight
The Aviation Field Staff
Synoptic Analysis, Prognosis and Forecasting
Antarctic and Southern Ocean Meteorology
A Wider Scientific Horizon
Research, Development and Special Investigations
Analysts' Conference, April 1950
Instruments and Observations
Radiosondes
Radar Winds and Radar Weather Watch
Telecommunications
Climate and Statistics
Training
Publications
CSIRO
The Universities
Achievements of the Warren Years
Chapter 2: International Meteorology
Chapter 3: The Timcke Years, 1950 to 1955
Chapter 4: A Year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Chapter 5: The Dwyer Years, 1955 to 1962
Chapter 6: A Springboard for the Future
Appendix 1: References
Appendix 2: Reports, Papers, Manuscripts
Appendix 3: Milestones
Appendix 4: Acknowledgements
Appendix 5: Summary by H. N. Warren of the Operation of the Meteorological Section of Allied Air Headquarters, Brisbane, 1942–45
Endnotes
Index
Search
Help
Contact us
Radar Winds and Radar Weather Watch (continued)
Max spent the next three years becoming familiar with the operation of the 277, arranging for the storage and reconditioning of the sets, touring Australia inspecting sites and arranging for the construction of suitable buildings to house the equipment. He worked in the DCA during this period and was promoted as an engineer in that Department although still responsible to H. N. Warren.He gained promotion in DCA as a senior airways engineer in October 1951.
Max had inspected sites and in many cases arranged construction of buildings to house the equipment at Charleville, Cloncurry, Eagle Farm, Laverton, Perth, Rathmines, Port Moresby, Garbutt, Alice Springs, Darwin, Port Hedland and Williamtown (NSW). The time had come for the Bureau to take over the project.
The first paragraph of Chapter 13 of Max Cassidy's unpublished reminiscences reads "in October 1951, Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) management took the view that the meteorological radar project would proceed rather slowly because, as I well knew, acquisition of buildings would continue to constitute the project critical path. It was acknowledged that I had done all that I could to advance the project, so (DCA) management had decided to post me to DCA's Vic-Tas region to become Senior Airways Engineer, Radio Construction. The meteorological radar project was placed under the control of the Senior Airways Engineer, Primary Radar in DCA's Central Office".
I believe the date of the above decision should be October 1950. In the same previous chapter Max records a discussion with Warren at the latter's home, presumably in early 1950, when Warren was briefed on progress with the acquisition of buildings to house the 277 radars.
Bill Brann's notes refer to the recruitment to the Bureau in 1949 of Geoff Goodman, an engineer with radar experience in the UK, to assist in the planning and installation of the Bureau's 277 radars. Bill also indicates that Geoff was initially supported by two radio technicians.
Reg Stout's reminiscences (1996) indicate that, after the initial installation of the 277 radar at Bowes Avenue, the next installation of a 277 radar was in Darwin in 1952. It is obvious that at the time of his death Warren's initiative had not resulted in routine radar wind-finding by the Bureau due to difficulties in instrument conversion, site selection, acquisition of buildings, training of staff, etc. Eventually the 15 type 277 radars were to prove extremely useful in wind-finding and weather watching.
People in Bright Sparcs - Brann, Harold Walter Allen Neale (Bill); Stout, Reginald William (Reg); Warren, Herbert Norman
 |
Bureau of Meteorology |  |
© Online Edition Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre and Bureau of Meteorology 2001
Published by Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, using the Web Academic Resource Publisher
http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/0926.html