[ARC5] Silly questions ? Again.

[Ray Robinson]

Hi gang,

> As if to confound us, the blasted station jack boxes for the Navy's WWII 
> RL-24 interphone amplifier are unpainted aluminum...though they *are* 
> nicely clear anodized, which gives perhaps even better protection to 
> salt spray.  Some decisions we will never understand, I guess.
>
My understanding is that some radios were visible in the clear canopies
(like the Avenger and Dauntless and some fighters) mounted behind the pilot
so the black was to remove reflections, but later on 
most radios were mounted inside the fuselage. 
BUT controls were often near the pilot so still needed to be black,
or anodised as in the jack and filter boxes.
Refelctions may give away your position to an enemy aircraft,
or dazzle the pilot.
Right, wrong or maybe?

To refute my own argument,
why were Mustangs in the European theatre
unpainted (the whole aircraft) and left as raw aluminium?

Regards
Ray
vk2ilv