Novembro de 1942, as blitz continuam sobre os céus de Londres, e bombardeiros ingleses fazem incursões sobre as principais cidades alemãs.
Nestes tempos, além das naturais dificuldades de combate, a própria navegação das aeronaves e navios era uma tarefa complexa, realizada através de rádio-navegação: basicamente, uma estação de rádio emite um sinal, com certa intensidade e direção, e este sinal é interceptado pela aeronave ou navio, que o segue ou acompanha, fazendo as necessárias correções em seu curso.
Grandes avanços na navegação aérea e naval foram realizadas durante a 2 GM. Churchill comenta um curioso episódio de "compartilhamento de tecnologia" com a Alemanha.
Submarine detection was not our only problem in this area. The Germans had established two long-range beam stations for enabling their aircraft and U-boats to navigate far out in the Bay and the Western Approaches. One of these was near Brest, and the other in North-West Spain. Our Ambassador at Madrid came to hear about the Spanish station, but instead of trying to get the endless legal and diplomatic controversy, we were advised by Dr. R. V. Jones to use it ourselves. By taking photographs of the equipment we were able to learn how it worked, and henceforward our aircraft and fighting ships were supplied with a first-class position-finding service which they shared happily with the enemy. Coastal Command were in fact able to use it to a greater extent than the German themselves, and it was so efficient that we built several similar beacons for service in Australia and the Pacific.
WSC. The Hinge of Fate, 255-256.
