It received its popular name from the programme's instigator, Henry Tizard, a British scientist and chairman of the Aeronautical Research Committee, which had orchestrated the development of radar.
They conveyed a number of British technical and scientific secrets with the objective of securing U.S. assistance in sustaining the war effort and obtaining the industrial resources to exploit the military potential of these technologies, which Britain itself could not fully use, due to the immediate demands of other war-related production.
"[1] The mission also opened up channels of communication for jet engine and atomic bomb development, leading to the British contribution to the Manhattan Project, and catalyzed Allied technological cooperation during World War II.
Britain made significant scientific advances in military technology, weapons and their components before World War II began in September 1939.
The information provided by the British delegation was subject to carefully vetted security procedures, and contained some of the greatest scientific advances made at that time.
The technology Britain possessed included the greatly-improved cavity magnetron,[5] the design for the proximity VT fuse, details of Frank Whittle's jet engine and the Frisch–Peierls memorandum and MAUD Report describing the feasibility of an atomic bomb.
Though these may be considered the most significant, many other technologies had also been developed, including designs for rockets, superchargers, gyroscopic gunsights, submarine detection devices, self-sealing fuel tanks and plastic explosives.
Tizard met Vannevar Bush, the chairman of the National Defense Research Committee, on 31 August 1940, and arranged a series of meetings with each division of the NDRC.
[7] At a meeting hosted by NDRC's two-month-old "Microwave Committee" chairman Dr Alfred Loomis[8] at the Wardman Park Hotel on 19 September 1940 the British disclosed the technical details of the Chain Home early warning radar stations.
Tizard was not unduly dismayed as he thought there were other US technologies more useful to Britain than the bombsight, and he asked for the unit's external dimensions so that British bombers could be modified to take it, if it became available at some future date.
[10] GEC at Wembley made 12 prototype cavity magnetrons in August 1940, and No 12 was sent to America with Bowen, where it was shown on 19 September 1940 in Alfred Loomis’ apartment.
[12] Tizard met with both Vannevar Bush and George W. Lewis and told them about jet propulsion, but he revealed very little except the seriousness of British efforts.
Bush later recalled: "The interesting parts of the subject, namely the explicit way in which the investigation was being carried out, were apparently not known to Tizard, and at least he did not give me any indication that he knew such details".
The Tizard mission was hailed as a success, especially for its impact on the subsequent development and deployment of radar as well as wider Allied technological cooperation during World War II.
[15]Note: The cavity resonator (magnetron), which was not a secret device at the time, can not be tuned to a fixed frequency, and for that reason was widely dismissed in the use of radar.
[citation needed]The Tizard mission caused the foundation of the MIT Radiation Lab in October 1940, which became one of the largest wartime projects, employing nearly 4,000 people at its peak.
When they returned to the UK in November 1940, the delegation reported that the slow neutron research conducted by French exiles in Cambridge, Columbia (by Fermi) and Canada (by Laurence) was probably irrelevant to the war effort.