W. A. S. Butement
Radar pioneer, inventor of the proximity fuse, and chief defence scientist.
William Alan Stewart Butement was born in Masterton, New Zealand, on 18 August 1904, the eldest of five children. His father, a physician and surgeon, moved the family to Sydney when Alan was eight, enrolling him at The Scots College. During the First World War, his father’s attempt to join the Australian Imperial Force as a medical officer failed due to age, prompting another move to London, where he could enlist in the British Army. Butement graduated from University College School in 1922, then studied medicine at University College London for a year before switching to science, earning a first-class Bachelor of Science in chemistry in 1926.
After university, he worked as a research assistant at Ealing Studios with DeForest Phonofilm. In 1928, he joined the War Office’s Signals Experimental Establishment at Woolwich as a Scientific Officer, developing army radio equipment. He pursued a doctorate under Alfred William Porter, but Porter’s death in January 1939 left the degree uncompleted. With colleague P. E. Pollard, Butement designed a radio device for detecting ships. A breadboard test unit operating at 50 cm (600 MHz) with pulsed modulation produced successful lab results, but War Office officials showed no interest. Nonetheless, in January 1931, a description of the apparatus was recorded in the Royal Engineers’ Inventions Book—the first official British record of what would become radar. He married Ursula Florence Alberta Parish on 17 June 1933; they had two daughters.
In 1938, Butement joined Robert Watson Watt’s team at Bawdsey Manor as a senior scientific officer, assigned to develop a Coastal Defence (CD) radar system for aiming anti-shipping and anti-aircraft guns. By early 1938, he had a prototype using a pulsed 1.5 m (200 MHz) transmitter producing 50 kW (later 150 kW). He built a large rotating dipole array, 10 feet high and 24 feet wide, with lobe switching for directional accuracy, and formulated the first British mathematical relationship now known as the radar range equation. He also designed the Wireless Set No. 11.
When the war began in September 1939, Bawdsey’s operations moved to safer locations. Butement became an Assistant Director of Scientific Research at the Air Defence Experimental Establishment in Christchurch, leading CD research.
Quick Facts
- Office
- Chief Defence Scientist of Australia
- Term Start
- 1949
- Term End
- 1967
- Successor
- Arthur Wills
- Birth Name
- William Alan Stewart Butement
- Birth Date
- 1904-08-18
- Birth Place
- Masterton, New Zealand
- Death Date
- 1990-01-25
- Death Place
- Richmond, Victoria
- Resting Place
- Andersons Creek Cemetery, Warrandyte, Victoria
- Spouse
- Ursula Florence Alberta Parish · 17 June 1933
- Children
- 2d
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Butement was born in Masterton, New Zealand, the oldest of five children. His family moved to Sydney when he was eight, then to London during the First World War. He graduated from University College London with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry in 1926. After working at Ealing Studios, he joined the War Office's Signals Experimental Establishment in 1928. In 1931, he and an associate conceived a radio apparatus for ship detection, the first official British record of radar technology. He married Ursula Florence Alberta Parish in 1933 and had two daughters.
During World War II, Butement developed a Coastal Defence RDF system and formulated the radar range equation. He conceived the proximity fuse in 1939, which was later adopted in the United States as the VT fuse. He also invented the Wireless Set No. 10, a multi-channel microwave communication system that became operational in July 1944 and was used by Field Marshal Montgomery. After the war, he moved to Australia in 1947 to help establish the Woomera rocket test range and became the first Chief Defence Scientist, overseeing development of the Malkara, Ikara, and Barra systems, and sponsoring research into the Jindalee over-the-horizon radar.
Reader's Guide
Butement's significance lies in his foundational contributions to radar and secure communications. His 1931 radar concept predated Chain Home, and his Coastal Defence RDF system and radar range equation were critical to British air defence. The proximity fuse, which he conceived in 1939, was exported via the Tizard Mission and became a decisive weapon against V-1 flying bombs and kamikaze attacks. The Wireless Set No. 10 provided the first multi-channel microwave battlefield communication, replacing telephone cable for the 1944–1945 campaign. In Australia, he shaped the nation's defence science infrastructure, leading the Weapons Research Establishment and guiding projects like the Malkara anti-tank missile, Ikara anti-submarine missile, Barra sonar buoy, and Jindalee over-the-horizon radar. His legacy includes the legal recognition of his invention of the proximity fuse in 1967.
Did You Know?
- Butement's 1931 radar apparatus was the first official British record of radar technology.
- He formulated the radar range equation, the first mathematical relationship of its kind in Great Britain.
- The proximity fuse he conceived in 1939 was later adopted in the United States as the VT fuse.
- He was awarded £10,000 by the British Awards to Inventors Committee for his wartime work.
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