Electron Tubes in World War II

Although the military uses of electronics have been well publicized in technical journals, the improvements in electron tubes that made possible these military innovations have not been fully reported. While this information is known in some detail by the technical people who were engaged in various phases of tube research and development, an over-all summary of the work done by industrial laboratories and Federal agencies has not been available to many engineers and students interested in this field. In this paper, the status of electron-tube development at the close of the war is indicated in broad outline; a more comprehensive picture depends upon more detailed reports from the various laboratories engaged in war activities. This summary of wartime advances in electron tubes is based on the knowledge of the vacuum-tube field gained by the engineers of the thermionics branch of the Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories, Bradley Beach, New Jersey, in developing, standardizing, and giving type approval of all tubes procured for the army during the war. No effort is made to give specific credit either to individuals or industrial organizations. By and large it is a story of common achievement of many people, with industry working hand in hand with the War and Navy Departients to meet the urgent requirements of an ever-expanding demand for new and improved military electronic equipment.