Japanese war tuba

Photograph featuring two Japanese acoustic locators mounted on 4-wheel carriages, taken in the 1930s

The Japanese war tuba is a colloquial name sometimes applied to Imperial Japanese Army acoustic locators due to the visual resemblance to the musical tuba. The name derived from a misidentification, possibly in jest, of a historical photo from the 1930s featuring the Japanese emperor Shôwa inspecting the acoustic locators with anti-aircraft guns in the background.

Acoustic location

Acoustic location was used from mid-World War I to the early years of World War II for the passive detection of aircraft by picking up the noise of the engines. It was rendered obsolete before and during World War II by the introduction of radar, which was far more effective. Some examples of concrete acoustic location mirrors can still be found on the seacoast of Britain to this day.

External links

• Acoustic Location and Sound Mirrors