Eric Megaw

Eric Christopher Stanley Megaw MBE (1908 – 25 January 1956) was an Irish (Belfast-educated) engineer who refined the power of the cavity magnetron for radar purposes (detection of U-boats) in the Second World War. He was appointed an MBE in 1943.[1]

Early life

He was born in Dublin. Two of his younger brothers, Peter Megaw and Basil Megaw, attended the same grammar school as him in Belfast. He was the son of Arthur Stanley Megaw who married Helen Smith. He attended Campbell College and Queen's University Belfast.[2][3][4]

He was an active radio amateur, and while still at school was the first amateur operator to manage contact between Ireland and Australia.[5] After graduating from Queen's at the age of 20, he was awarded a research fellowship at Imperial College, London.[6]

Career

Cavity magnetron

He was the leader of a group working on the cavity magnetron from April 1940 in north-west London.[7] The cavity magnetron was producing power of around 500W (E1188 version). Eric Megaw changed the design, coating the cathode with oxides (E1189 version)[8] and eight segments from six, to increase the power to 100 kW by September 1940, enough to detect submarines. The first trial on board an aircraft took place in March 1941.

The greatly-improved cavity magnetron would be valuable to the Tizard Mission.

Personal life

He was fluent in French, German and Italian. His name has sometimes been erroneously spelled Eric McGaw.

See also

References
  1. "Obituary. Eric C. S. Megaw" (PDF). Wireless World. 62 (3): 107. March 1956.
  2. "Eric Megaw". ee.qub.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 26 February 2017. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
  3. "Peter Megaw". The Times. 4 August 2006. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  4. "(no title)". Isle of Man Times. 12 January 1952. p. 8 – via iMuseum, Manx National Heritage. Cite uses generic title (help)
  5. "Long Distance Wireless". Belfast Telegraph. 14 September 1925. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  6. "Belfast Youth's Distinction". Northern Whig. 26 July 1928. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  7. "Cavity magnetron" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-09. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
  8. "E 1189, Tube E1189; Röhre E 1189 ID15817, Pulse magnetron". radiomuseum.org. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
  • The Development of Radar Equipments for the Royal Navy, 1935–45, page 111, Naval Radar Trust 1995
  • Technical and Military Imperatives: A Radar History of World War 2, page 153
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