DEHS normally hosts two events each year – a spring lecture and an autumn symposium. Occasionally, visits are arranged to a place of interest in the history of defence electronics.
The annual Spring Lecture is given by an invited speaker, who has normally had a distinguished career in the field of defence electronics.
DEHS hosts an annual Autumn Symposium broad theme of relevance to the history of defence electronics.
Forthcoming events
‘RADAR IN THE AIR’ DEHS 2025 CONFERENCE, SATURDAY 16 AUGUST 2025
The Martlesham and Bawdsey 2025 event will take place on Friday 15 and Saturday 16 August, and has been arranged in two parts – the Friday events, at the BT Research Centre at Martlesham, is arranged for the general public on the Friday morning, of the origins of airborne radar and of the General Post Office contribution to radar; on Friday afternoon, the history is presented in greater detail for those with a more technical background. Details and booking forms for the Friday sessions will be circulated separately.
On Saturday 16 August, the 2025 DEHS Conference ‘Radar in the Air’ and AGM will be held at the Bawdsey Radar Trust Museum, Ferry Road, Bawdsey IP12 3AT, and will be exclusive to DEHS members, for whom the Bawdsey Radar Trust have most kindly arranged a special opening of the Transmitter Block and its excellent displays. The DEHS Conference will take the form of a detailed re-examination of the development of airborne radar from newly-discovered original documents by Professor Simon Watts and from a new major display of the original equipment as re-created by DEHS master craftsman Tony Waller. Members’ questions will be actively encouraged and discussed – feel free to disagree with our experts!
To book a free place for the Saturday event, please fill in and post this form [Word document or pdf file] or email info@dehs.org.uk if you have any further questions.
Past events
DEHS Autumn conference on Security and Intelligence, 27 November 2019
Our 2019 Russell Burns Spring Lecture took place on Thursday 2 May 2018 at STEAM, Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon and was given by Dr Jonathan Aylen, President of the Newcomen Society, on “From Cold War to Coal Trains.” Find out more here.
Our 2018 Russell Burns Spring Lecture took place on Wednesday 30 May 2018 at STEAM, Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon and was given by Prof. Simon Watts, MBE, DSc, FREng, Visiting Professor in the Dept. of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University College, London on UK Maritime Surveillance Radars for the RAF, 1950–2010. Find out more and see photos of the event here.
Our 2017 Autumn Symposium was Savage ‘Little’ Wars and took place on Friday 13 October at STEAM, Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon. This was the last such event. Find out more and see photos of the event here.
Publications and Podcasts
Hard-copy versions of some Autumn Symposium presentations are available as Proceedings, which are still available for purchase.
Some recent Spring Lectures and Autumn Symposia have been recorded and are now available as podcasts. The audio files are in MP3 format and can be downloaded using the links in the table below. If you have any problems with these downloads, please contact info@dehs.org.uk.
2006 Spring Lecture: Normandy 1944 by Professor Richard Holmes
2007 Spring Lecture: – Taffy Bowen – saint or sinner? The contoversy over early airborne radar by Phil Judkins; – Alan Blumlein – his life and work in radar by Simon Blumlein.
2007 Autumn Symposium: five presentations on the theme of Government and Commercial Electronics R&D.
2008 Spring Lecture: – Bletchley Park & the Y-Service, Sigint and the Allied Bombing Offensive by John Stubbington. – The US airborne acoustic torpedo – 1943-45 by John Beattie;