Alexandra palace, London. For what purpose was this massive building used during WW2 ?

Answer 1

General details of the television broadcasting of the BBC from Alexandra Palace (known locally as the "Ally Pally") during WW2 can be seen on http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:G1VXoz52azcJ:www.teletronic.co.uk/herestv6.htm+alexandra+palace+bbc+wartime&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3.

However, the Ally Pally also became of strategic importance in the following way.

On 26- Feb-1935 an experiment using the 6MHz BBC Empire Service transmitter at Daventry detected a Heyford bomber flying at ten thousand feet. So began the British development of early warning radar that led to the building of the wartime coastal 'Chain Home' radar stations in time for the Battle of Britain. Meanwhile, Germany was using their radio technology to devise bomber navigation systems based on the principal of the Lorenz beam.

At the start of the war, the Germans deployed two similar systems, Knickebein and X-Gerät (Wotan I). These consisted of Lorenz type beams at around 30 and 70 MHz respectively that intersected over the target. Simple jamming of these beams should have been relatively easy but the British monitoring equipment was not accurate enough to define the exact frequency of the beams for every raid or the frequency of the tone modulation. Accurate frequency information decoded by Bletchley Park often did not arrive in time. It was believed at the time that the devastating raid on Coventry on the night of 14th November 1940 was a result of inaccurate detection of the beam frequencies.

By the end of 1940, Britain was having more success in jamming these beams and the Germans began deploying Y-Gerät or Wotan II. This system was unique in that it used only one Lorenz type beam along which the bombers would fly. A second transmission around 45MHz was aimed at a transponder in the aircraft, which re-transmitted on an offset frequency. The home station was able to deduce the range of the aircraft, and hence distance from the target, by calculating the return delay. The home station would order the release of bombs or markers as the aircraft reached the target. The system was potentially very accurate.

The British immediately realised that the powerful Alexandra Palace TV transmitter was capable of transmitting on the transponder frequencies and instigated 'Operation Domino'. Using the receiving station at Swains Lane, Highgate, the return signal from the aircraft's transponder was retransmitted back to the aircraft on its receiving frequency by the Alexandra Palace TV transmitter and hence back to the aircraft's home station. This extra loop producing a false distance reading.

The Swains Lane receiver station was connected by Post Office landline to the Alexandra Palace transmitter. By using a low-voltage motor, this line controlled any drifting in the lock-on carrier beam, thus eliminating any give-away heterodyning beat-notes. It took only ten minutes to retune all the stages of RF circuits in the transmitter to the exact transponder frequency; however, the Luftwaffe only needed thirty minutes from take-off before bombing over London. The operators at Alexandra Palace were equipped to listen to the Luftwaffe pilots receiving confused messages from their home stations in Northern France. For its trouble, Alexandra Palace received a stick of six bombs parallel to and 100 yards from the famous south wing of the station.

The 'Domino' counter measures from Alexandra Palace were a complete success and by the spring of 1941 the Germans had abandoned all the beam systems against Britain. They were used later, notably in the Baedeker raids, but it was the British who, in the end, developed the most accurate and successful radio bombing system which became known as 'Oboe'.

Answer 2

First opened as “The People’s Palace” in 1873, Alexandra Palace provided the Victorians with a great environment and recreation centre. Just sixteen days after it’s opening, the Palace, which had already attracted over 120,000 visitors, was destroyed by a fire in the dome.

On 1st May 1875, less than 2 years after the destruction of the original building, a new Palace opened. Covering 7 acres, it was centred on the Great Hall, home to the mighty Willis Organ which was driven by two steam engines and vast bellows.

After certain financial difficulties, an Act of Parliament in 1900 created the Alexandra Palace and Park Trust. The Act required the Trustees to maintain the Palace and Park and make them "available for the free use and recreation of the public forever".

In 1935, the BBC leased the eastern part of the building from which the first public television transmissions were made in 1936. Alexandra Palace was the main transmitting centre for the BBC until 1956, when it was used exclusively for news broadcasts.

Just six months after the transfer of trusteeship to Haringey Council, on 10th July 1980, the Palace caught fire for the second time. An area comprising the Great Hall, Banqueting Suite, and former roller rink together with the theatre dressing rooms was completely destroyed. Only Palm Court and the area occupied by the BBC escaped damage.

Development and restoration work began soon after and the Palace was re-opened on 17th March 1988. It continues as a Charitable Trust administered by the London Borough of Haringey.

Alexandra Palace has built a reputation as one of London's premier venues. With its beautiful setting with panoramic views of London, stunning architectural features and well proportioned halls, the Palace is now a very popular choice for both corporate and private events.

The additional leisure facilities which include the Ice Rink, Phoenix Bar, Boating Lake, Children's Playground, Animal Enclosure and Conservation Area provide year round entertainment for everyone

Answer 3

As a transmitting source to jam German bomber navigation systems:

"In 1935 the palace was partly occupied by the BBC, which used it as the production and transmission centre for their new BBC Television Service. The antenna was designed by Charles Samuel Franklin of the Marconi company. The world's first public broadcasts of high-definition television were made from this site in 1936. Two competing systems, Marconi-EMI's 405-line system and Baird's 240-line system, were installed, each with its own broadcast studio, and were transmitted on alternate weeks until the 405-line system was chosen in 1937. The palace continued as the BBC's main TV transmitting centre for London until 1956, interrupted only by World War II when the transmitter found an alternative use jamming German bombers' navigation systems (it is said that only 25% of London raids were effective because of these transmissions). After that it continued to be used for news broadcasts until 1969, and for the Open University until the early 1980s"

Answer 4

"The palace continued as the BBC's main TV transmitting centre for London until 1956, interrupted only by World War II when the transmitter found an alternative use jamming German bombers' navigation systems (it is said that only 25% of London raids were effective because of these transmissions). "

Answer 5

far too simplistic - it became now not payback for Pearl Harbor. Japan declared conflict on the united statesa. and the British Empire. They waged total conflict and weren't going to provide up in spite of the percentages against them triumphing being untenable. the selection to place in the bomb(s) became made on the foundation that it might save a minimum of one million Allied lives and shorten the conflict via months if now not years. interior the tip with human beings loss of life for the time of Asia under the eastern yoke - enjoying the long pastime became now not in all probability an option so the bombs have been used. Had the eastern complied with unconditional renounce whilst it became placed to them they'd have been spared Hiroshima - and the unquestionably would have been spared Nagasaki whilst they realised Truman became now not bluffing. the actuality that Congress had spent the equivalent of $25 billion and had to acknowledge if the damned issues labored - or that the U. S. then had something to threaten the U.S. with interior the submit conflict era have been somewhat secondary concerns.

Answer 6

It is now a great pub/beer garden, ice skating ring and banqueting hall and i live 5 mins away from it!

Answer 7

hospital