The Royal Observer Corp begs to differ. They were just as important as the radar system for the BoB.
They were useful once the battle went inland (though they were terrible at determining height, direction, and had some trouble with determining bombers vs. fighters. The radars were at the coast, so by knocking them down the ROC won't be able to see anything until the bombers reached spotting distance of the shore...assuming there isn't cloud cover. By that time it would take 6 minutes at very best from them reporting the sighting to that information reaching the airfields. And if the bombers are already within sight of land then they will be able to reach their targets and turn around before RAF fighters could even take off.
So you're giving up on any hope of wiping out the RAF, and are instead focussing on hitting a periphery?
No, I'm focusing the LW on the strategy they pursued IOTL: defeating the RAF in the air, not just bombing their airfields. By forcing the RAF to fight away from their airfields without the ability to tell when and where the LW was coming, they would be forced to maintain standing fighter patrols, which wears down men and machines, so that they cannot husband their strength for when the LW comes over to bomb. Plus it forces them to expend efforts in the West, away from the main theater in Southeastern Britain. The defender has to expend more resources to cover all the expose areas, unlike the attacker, who can choose when and where to attack and husband their strength for those efforts.
IOTL the RAF had the advantage of being able to not have to maintain air patrols because RADAR told them when an attack was coming and very roughly what size of raid it would be, so could pick and choose what to throw into the fight and when for maximum effect. They were also able to tell what were fighter sweeps and what weren't. Still even IOTL small units of bombers were able to sneak in and bomb unmolested in 'Pirateneinsätze'. Here the British cannot ignore any report of LW aircraft and need to muster their meager resources to scramble at the first sign of danger AND maintain patrols to cover exposed areas until RADAR signals are up. When they have to do that, they are losing fighting power both from having to maintain them, but also from the wear-and-tear on the pilots and machines, which IOTL were pretty hard pressed.
Except that you have to continually raid the area to make sure the radar stays down, and they you have to hope that No. 10 Group's sector isn't just written off for a time. Also, while you're bombing there, you aren't bombing other places.
The goal of the Battle of Britain was to draw Fighter Command into a battle in the air and destroy them in combat, not by bombing their airfields. By ripping a whole in the system and forcing 11 group to fight away from their airfields and having to maintain patrols to avoid just letting the Luftwaffe bomb Western Britain and 10 group's airfields, then they will be worn down quicker from constant stress both on men and machines, it will force them to react to the Germans more so than IOTL, when they could pick and choose when and where to fight and at the most favorable odds. The bombing isn't the goal, but rather to force Fighter Command to fight off balance and in an area where they cannot get RADAR notification and prepare the best defense. Without being able to tell when and where the LW is coming, they need to protect everything as often as they could.
Defend everywhere, strong nowhere.
Hm, so a very large raid travelling at a very slow speed (for bombers)? Can you please tell me how that is not going to look like a parachute drop? In fact that tactic would be better used to make the British think it is a drop, and then have the bombers accelerate once they're over the coast.
At night bombers generally traveled at slower speeds anyway, for the He111 no more than 168 mph, as 2 tons of bombs slowed down the aircraft, which was double the wait of the Ju52. Also the HE111 can and did pull gliders, so it won't be traveling at speeds too much below the usual cruise speed of the HE111 bombladen. When they were trying to pick up the Knickebein signal the HE111 also often traveled even slower than their cruise speed.
That's going to make it look even bigger, which is going to put the British even more on alert.
If it is in a bomber formation and size is seriously indistinct in Chain Home readings, how can they tell?
And you're doing this at what, dozens of site?
At most 6.
Except that they lose, since those bombers are not commited to nuisance raids against not-very-important sites, and thus can't be sent out to target actually important stuff like No. 11 Group's airfields.
The bombers then force 11 Group to maintain CAP over Southwest England and 10 Group's airfields', where they will be worn down from constant flying and won't be available for operations in Southeastern England. Small raids of bombers can swoop in and bomb RADAR construction sites, instead of bombing factories and cities like IOTL during the BoB instead, which is far more profitable. The RAF was much more worn down in air combat than bombing airfields, which were pretty dangerous for bombers, as they would have to travel further inland and be vulnerable for longer. The RADAR sites were near the coast, so by the time the bombers reach the target the lack of Radar warning means the bombers can tip and run, which IOTL in 1942-3 during the Baedecker raids the British had a very hard time defending against even with BETTER RADAR than in 1940.
Hitting coastal targets were the least dangerous mission for the LW throughout the war, as they were ready to turn and run for France and safety very quickly, while the inland missions like bombing airfields cost significantly more casualties. So the saved bombers will mean more aircraft for more missions for the LW. In a sense bombing the Radar sites pays for itself after a week or so, because the LW will have extra bombers that they didn't have IOTL that were killed earlier in the campaign bombing targets inland that here would survive here.
Also the RAF would be worn down from having to maintain fighter patrols until RADAR is brought back online, so the LW would have a better chance to shoot down tired pilots and will be confronting them on more favorable terms, especially without the benefits of the radar system given the defenders the ability to ensure that they had a superior number of fighters in the air battle.
Which is a contradictory statement, experienced operators will call in the height and size of the formation, as well as the low speed and bearing, while even inexperienced operators will at least call in the slow speed and approximate bearing.
Not really, as there were limits to the system, so even experienced operators were limited by the readings they were getting, which were less reliable than the German radar. Then within those less reliable readings, there was a gradient of experience that allowed them to properly evaluate the readings to get the most accurate report that the system of capable of.
So an inexperienced operator would give very bad readings over all, as they were twice handicapped by the poor readings of the system, plus their poor experience reading the reading, which meant that the final report was of limited use other than 'something is coming from x direction'.
The German system was pretty rare though, only about 8 sets were deployed. The British also managed to spoof the Germans even when the stations were down by sending out 'dead' signals from ground transmitters.
True. That would be somewhat of a problem, but with men on the ground confirming the system was destroyed, the Germans are more likely to see through the spoofing, rather than bombing the site from the air only and being unclear if they actually hit the target. A construction site if much larger and easier to disrupt than the radar towers once built, as they were surprisingly able to withstand any blast but a direct hit.
Can't do it at night due to fear of injuring/killing your own guys, and the British could (and almost certainly would) keep search planes aloft.
That's why you bomb it after they leave. Come on, give me some credit, rather than taking the most ludicrous ad hominem read.
Search planes would also only see targets after they were already approaching, which would still mean several minutes to get the information to the nearest airfield and several more minutes to get planes in the air and to the site, by which time the bombings would be over and the bombers already running for home. CAP with fighters is the only way to ensure the sites are protected once there is a gap in coverage.