The onboard Airborne Interception (AI) radar, first used by the RAF in 1939, had the ability to detect enemy bombers before they reached the English Channel.
Ace fighter pilot John “Cat’s Eyes” Cunningham was the first RAF pilot to shoot down an enemy plane in 1940 using AI. His impressive record boasted 20 kills — 19 of which were at night.
In order to keep the newly adopted technology under cover, the now-defunct Ministry of Food attributed the British pilot’s success to carrots.
They told newspapers that the pilot’s razor-sharp night vision was a result of consuming a steady diet of carrots, and claimed that civilians could also have eyesight as good as Cunningham’s (especially during mandatory citywide blackouts) if only they ate more carrots and stopped complaining about wartime rations.
On the surface, this seemed plausible. The humble root vegetable was known as a good source of vitamin A (in the form of beta carotene), a vital nutrient for general health of the eyes as well as the skin, hair, and immune system.