Sir Robert Cockburn KBE CB (/ˈkoʊbərn/ KOH-bərn; 31 March 1909 – 21 March 1994) was a British government scientist who played an important role in the field of electronic countermeasures for the RAF in the defence of Britain during the Second World War and later became Director of the Royal Aircraft Establishment and Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Aviation.

[2] In 1940, Cockburn was assigned to the Telecommunications Research Establishment near Swanage, where he set up and headed a team to work on radio countermeasures - the Battle of the Beams.

However, enclosed in its own pressurised container, (to prevent arcing of the high voltages inside), it was large and took up the entirety of the bomb bay of the Boeing Fortresses used by No.

One of the principal weapons for this purpose was Window, known to the Americans as Chaff, small bundles of metal strips which could cause a radar echo similar to that of a bomber aircraft.

Window was such an important innovation that many opposed its use by RAF Bomber Command, because of the potential consequences if the Germans used similar techniques against British radar.

Bomber Command was finally allowed to use Window for the first time on 24–25 July 1943, in the big raid on Hamburg, leading to a significant reduction in RAF casualties.

These operations were designed to create an elaborate system of electronic signals that, while using only two squadrons of bombers dropping bundles of Window, would suggest that invasion fleets were heading towards Fecamp and Calais, well to the east of the actual landings.