Peter Jackson

David Haysom

“A remarkable reconstruction of the extensive and quite exceptional career” of a key WW2 military intelligence officer. (Royal Air Force Historical Society)

Of German stock dating back to 1530 in Saxony, Eric George Ackermann GM was born on the Isle of Wight in 1919 and became a leading figure in the world of signals and electronic intelligence. As a Junior Scientific Officer at the Telecommunication Research Establishment, Boscombe Down, with an honorary commission in the Royal Air Force, he made numerous flights over occupied territory searching for, monitoring and destroying Germany’s Wuerzburg, Knickebein and X Band radar systems. Much of his research was passed to the highest levels of wartime government, ensuring that tactical plans could be executed that took full advantage of top secret German intelligence. A host of secret missions to assess the enemy’s radar capabilities were carried out in North Africa, Gibraltar and Italy. 

This engaging biography explores his operational deployment at the vanguard of tactical intelligence operations during WWII. Winner of the George Medal for conspicuous gallantry, Ackermann also saw conflict up close and personal. After the war, he played a major part in the implementation of a string of listening stations built along the borders of Soviet Bloc countries, which later gleaned a wealth of invaluable post-war intelligence. Further work in aeronautics and satellite construction in the United States followed. 

Despite Ackermann’s achievements, he has never been the subject of a book-length study until now. Covert Radar and Signals Interception will appeal to aviation enthusiasts, as well as readers curious to gain new insights into twentieth century intelligence practices and their often far-reaching consequences.

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