Elektra-sonnen GAF navigation system

WATU · Apr 10, 2022

Any suggestions for a good source containing reasonable detail on Elektro-sonnen please? I am interested in its use by U-boats. The literature has lots of passing mentions but what I have is thin on detail and explanation. The best thing I have is the SRH-025 US Technical Intelligence report.

Snautzer01 · Apr 10, 2022

Never heard of that. Could you give a bit of info?

WATU · Apr 10, 2022

It was a navigation system for GAF and presumably similar to GEE and/or LORAN not that I have great knowledge of them either. Rather than me waffling probably better if you search "srh-025 Atlantic intelligence". That will give you a download able copy of SRH-025. Chapter 7 is on Elektra-sonnen.

Wurger · Apr 10, 2022

The Elektra Sonne/Elektra Sonnen also known as the Sonne ("the sun" in German) and the Consolan or Consol to the allies. It was a radio (radio beacon) navigation system developed in Germany during World War II and became operational in 1943. It was developed from an earlier experimental system known as Elektra, and therefore the system is also known as Elektra-sonnen. A radio beacon operating at 1 kilometer (300 kHz). Three (3) fixed antennas in a row spaced 1 kilometer (one wavelength) apart. The antennas produced a complicated signal that allowed determination of the radial to the beacon. Contrary to the classic radio beacon system for getting the position it was possible to use an ordinary receiver without a directional aerial.

Elektra was an updated version of the beam-based low-frequency radio range (LFR) used in the United States during the 1930s. This was further modified to create Sonne by electronically rotating the signal to create a series of beams sweeping across the sky. Using simple timing of the signal, the navigator could determine the angle to the station. Two such measurements then provided a radio fix. Accuracy and range were excellent, with fixes around ¼ of a degree being possible at 1,000 miles (1,600 km) range.

Sonne was so useful that it found widespread use by UK forces as well, and they took over operation after the war. The system was used for long-range navigation under the Consol name, and supported by ICAO as one of the suggested long-range air navigation systems. New stations were constructed around the world over the next twenty years. The system remained in partial use into the 1990s, with the last transmitter in Norway turned off in 1991.

HyperWar: Battle of the Atlantic IV: Tech. Intel. from Allied Comm. Intel. [Chapter 7]

WATU · Apr 10, 2022

I did read somewhere that the Allies made use of the system during WW2 so avoided bombing the transmitters, the locations being well-known from Allied D/F.