In the early 1900s, Japan’s military adopted acoustic location, using iconic “war tubas” in order to locate aircrafts and submarines.

According to Spoon-Tamago, these massive acoustic locators were used to detect incoming aircraft before the invention of radar. Japanese soldiers picked up the sound of far-away planes by connecting the large horns – one on a horizontal axis and the other on a vertical axis – to their ears and listening for the sound waves emitted by early 20^th-century aircraft. Some smaller versions of the device were also stationed to the ground on a tripod.

Though war tubas didn’t last long – they were made redundant once radar came into the picture – the sight of Japanese soldiers operating them is a bizarre one.

Have a peek at these giant brass instruments, courtesy of Spoon-Tamago, below:

[Photos via Spoon-Tamago]

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