Before the contest with EMI further work had taken place on Baird's Noctovision, which he saw the potential of developing for a practical use. Following numerous tests Baird invited journalists and scientists to his house at Boxhill where he demonstrated the equipments ability to pick up the navigation lights of ships at sea, or the rays of a lighthouse, and determine their relative bearings. Mercantile Marine officers who attended these tests were of the opinion that the equipments development offered vast potentialities in the safe navigation of vessels in foggy weather.

Dr. Peter Waddell of the University of Strathclyde, has found files of official correspondence from the 1920s and 1930s, formerly classified, describing visits of Air Ministry and Admiralty personnel to Baird's laboratories. There are suggestions that Baird was placed under a "gag order" on many aspects of his research. Although there is little information beyond the demonstration of Noctovision in 1930 it is known that Baird took out other patents during the late 1920's and early 1930's. One of these has already been described. Another called for the scanning of an object with a directional beam of ultra-short radio waves; the reflected waves of which could then be picked up by a suitable receiver and the amplified signal combined to form a picture of the object. In 1926 Baird took out a British patent (No. 292.185) for a radio spark gap transmitter for object detection. The following year he took out another British patent for a visual receiver display, which was a flat screen covered with small metal particles. By now Baird was deeply immersed in the development of detection systems and it is certain that he was fully aware of their tactical use.

The experiments that also aroused the interest of several foreign governments prompted the British Government to write to Baird requesting that he withhold publication of the technical details of his equipment. A letter dated 15th December 1926 and marked "SECRET" was released in the 1980's revealing the full extent of the military's interest. From the Director of Scientific Research, The Admiralty, S.W.1. it read: 'Dear Sir, with further reference to my letter of the 29th of October, I attach for your information a copy of a letter addressed to Messrs. Television Ltd. to Lieutenant Colonel Lefroy of the Royal Aircraft Establishment dated 7th of October last in which the proposal is made for a demonstration of automatic spotting by radio transmission. As it is not desired to duplicate in any way the work you have already in hand at the Admiralty Research Laboratory, I would suggest that the firm's proposal should be considered by you and a reply sent. I would add that the Air Ministry would be very willing to give any assistance to you that might lie in their power in furtherance of any work of this nature.'

It was not long before the British armed forces were researching detection systems themselves and by 1928 the British Royal Navy applied for a provisional secret GB patent (No. 6,433) for the 'Detection of Ships and Aircraft by Reflected Radio Waves.' Before that, however, Baird had applied for an American patent for the infrared version of the Noctovisor. This application also contained information missing from its British counterpart, yet another example of how Baird would intentionally separate aspects of the same experiment in order to maintain secrecy. The American patent not only referred to object detection but also to signalling.

By 1930 Baird's Televisor was already being used in areas other than television. In an article for Television published in November of that year E. V. Appleton, a friend of Baird, described how he'd used it to measure the height of the ionosphere, a large ionised gas layer at the top of the Earth's atmosphere that absorbs radiation from the sun leaving the gas molecules or atoms positively charged. These ionised layers reflect short-wavelength radio waves making long-distance radio communication possible. Appleton transmitted television images upwards from the ground to reflect the layer while the same image was also sent by land to the Televisor. The two images arrived at different times and on different positions on the Televisor appearing on the screen as 'echo blips'. By this method Appleton was able to accurately calculate the height of the layer. The test results prompted another English researcher, E. L. C. White to take things even further. He refined the technique to devise a single two-blip system with pulses coming directly from the transmitter and the reflecting object.

So what has this got to do with Baird apart from the fact that his Televisor was used in the experiments? One could be forgiven for thinking nothing at all, until we remember the account given by Norman Loxdale of Baird's experiments in 1923. "He then moved the reflector towards the sea and he said to me: "Come along and look at this." It wasn't fluorescing. All I saw was a brownish picture, not quite a picture. Something was moving on the screen." And what of the account given by Alex Horn's widow of the objects here husband was secretly making for Baird in the 1920's. Remember: Years later, she described these components to an engineering lecturer at Melbourne University, who told her that they sounded remarkably like radar components. From what we know of Baird's history, the 1926 patents (as well as the secret patents he applied for), the fact that Baird and Appleton were friends who shared a common interest and it was later Appleton who suggested to White that he employ the two-blip radar method, builds up a strong circumstantial case to support the theory that the starting point of all modern radar experimentation can be traced back to John Logie Baird. Patent GB 292, 185 of June 21st 1928 taken out by Television Ltd. and John Logie Baird states: 'This invention comprises a method of viewing an object, by projecting upon it electromagnetic waves of short wavelength adjacent to the infra-red radiation of the spectrum, but of longer wavelength than the infra-red rays, exploring the object or the image thereof by a device sensitive to such rays…and traversing a spot of light across a screen in synchronism with the exploration of the subject."

In December 1934 the Air Ministry set up a committee to find ways of protecting Britain from possible attack from enemy aircraft and by January of 1935 that committee, under the chairmanship of H. Tizard, held its first meeting. Tizard's committee came to the conclusion that Britain needed at least twenty minutes warning of approaching aircraft and the best method of detecting them would be from reflected radio waves. Sir Robert Watson-Watt, a Scottish physicist, was put in charge of developing such a system and on 26th February he conducted his (now famous) first experiment from BBC Daventry. Or so history would have us believe. It would seem that Watson-Watt, who could not have been alerted to the Air Ministry's plans before January 1935, had by the following month, both devised and refined a system of radar. Fast work indeed! By June 1935 Watson-Watt was utilising a system very similar to Appleton's 1931 synchronised pulse signal, which was probably based on Baird's original experiments. Appleton joined Tizard's committee in October 1936 and it is reported that he was less than amused to discover his apparatus being used for British defence radar with Watson-Watt taking all the credit.

The British kept their experiments under close security but it is known that the Germans were well aware of many of these developments. In June 1936 the German Secretary of State for Air, Erhard Milch, creator of the Luftwaffe, visited Hatfield Aerodrome. Apparently the first question he asked to a surprised British delegation when he stepped off his plane was how their radiolocation was coming along.

Baird in the meantime was employed elsewhere on Air Ministry projects secretly equipping bombers. In 1936 the Ministry approached Captain A.G.D. West, chief engineer of the Baird Company and himself an ex-radio intelligence officer. They wanted a television guidance system to direct bombers from above the clouds. West informed the Ministry that the Baird Company had business ties with Fernseh AG in Germany and under the agreement of their partnership exchanges of technical information were mandatory. However, it was noted that the German government had taken control of all television declaring that all future development was to be a state secret. Since then Fernseh was soaking up all the information they could from the Baird Company without giving anything in return.

Air Ministry file Air 2/1775 in the Public Records Office reveals that the Baird Company were contracted to develop a bomber guidance system for the French government and possibly for the Russians too. Both contracts had British government approval. In Germany, Baird's activities were already under close scrutiny and for a country that was preparing for war, the Baird Company, working closely for Germany's intended enemies, would have been a prime target. During the period when the company undertook secret work it would almost certainly have attracted the attention of German agents. The German leadership was only too aware of the importance of television and its closeness to radar and other detection systems. This might lead one to the possible assumption that the fire at the Crystal Palace was not caused, as has been surmised in the past, by a mere electrical fault. The fire brought about massive disruption to the company's Air Ministry work and Baird himself was convinced that this was nothing less than an act of sabotage.