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Update February 2024: Thanks to Frederic, we have English translatons for the three German captions below, and they even rhyme. We posted them below each poster below.
Update January 2024: Wow, three more ads we didn't have! These were sent in by loyal reader Joachim, who found them in a booklet distributed to employees by the former AEG Telefunken (with Varian's permission) sometime in the 1970s. These aren't technically ads, but they are the same type of art and similar clever captions (though this time, in German). This collection has three new graphics:
Hannibal Crossing the Alps
Hannibal was quite upset
and wanted to beat up the radar team.
because the Azimuth was ill-set,
they crossed hills, not passes, it would seem.
Much sorrow the elephants have on their hands,
when the radar fails in foreign lands.
Gottfried von Berlichingen in his Castle
Once, the evil enemy wanted to best
the castle of von Berlichingen, Goetz.
But alas, a radar's wire snaps!
And Goetz shouts his famous yaps:
"You can kiss my behind, stop wasting time,
the Radar should be fine!"
Storming of the Düppeler Schanzen
Once, near Dueppel in the trenches,
there was quite some serious ruckus.
With radar focusing the enemy,
who seemed to fear no misery.
And the Radar contributes to the victory,
that's why in war, even today, its usefulness is no mystery!
Update July 2013: now the entire collection (17 ads) is in one 6MB pdf file, in order by date, thanks to Tommy, who was once a Navy Radar Tech.
Download the whole enchilada!
Update April 2013: Helmut sent us one we didn't have, Galileo meets the Martians (see bottom of page)
Update December 2012: Jim sent us his scan of the ads, and it turns out we were missing two! Go to the bottom of the page to download Jim's contribution.
In 1959 and 1960, the Bomac Tube Company of Beverly Massachusetts published a series of ads that traced the history of microwaves back to the Stone Ages.
Who said microwave advertisements can't have a sense of humor?
Varian bought Bomac, and changed the name on later copies of the ads. Then Varian sold the business to CPI in Palo Alto, CA and Canada. Check out our "where-are-they-now?" page for more information on dead microwave nameplates!
Click on the title to reveal a high-resolution scan that you can download, print out, and hang by the coffee pot.
About Waterloo
The Day Somebody Goofed
Sir Francis Drake Cracks a Case
Radar and the Crusades
The Great Dragon Raid of 1405
A Viking Fable
The Real Story of the Trojan Horse
Tall Tale from Texas
The Birth of Radar
How Radar Got its Name
Attila Attacks!
The Perfidious Electron Tube
Radar & the Bastille
While Nero Fiddled
That's fourteen ads, but it's not complete collection... wait, there's more!
Jim sent us a scan of the ads he had, his collection has two we were not aware of: George at the Forge, and Shaggy Fish Story. For now, if you want to view these two, they are in the file below. We'll try to bust them out separately for you later.
Download Varian ads scanned by Jim
And here is another ad we didn't have, sent in by Helmut:
Galileo meets the Martians