Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Defence

TheCommittee for the Scientific Survey of Air Defence(CSSAD),^[1]also known as theTizard Committeeafter its chairman,Henry Tizard,was a pre-World War IIscientific mission to study the needs ofanti-aircraft warfarein the United Kingdom. The Committee is best known for its role in shepherding the development ofradar,and the building of theChain Homeradar array and its associated control centres.Winston Churchillcredited the success of theBattle of Britainto this work.

CSSAD was formed in 1934.^[2]^[3]In September 1939, it was merged with the Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Offence, which had been formed in 1937, and was also chaired by Tizard, to form the Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Warfare (CSSAW).^[4]Tizard helped convince Churchill to hand over Britain's most important secret weapons technology to the Americans with no strings attached. TheTizard Mission(officially the British Technical and Scientific Mission) delivered the technology to the Americans in a simple black metal box at the height of the Battle of Britain. CSSAW was discontinued in June 1940.^[5]

References

^Keegan, John: Intelligence in War. Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda, London 2003, S. 299.
^Thomas, Will."Primer: The Tizard Committee"– via British Science-Society Critiques.
^"Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Defence".National Archives.Retrieved7 October2017.
^Thomas Wakelam, Randall (2009).The Science of Bombing: Operational Research in RAF Bomber Command.Toronto: University of Toronto Press.ISBN 9781442693432.Retrieved7 October2017.
^"Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Warfare".National Archives.Retrieved7 October2017.