[ARC5] Re: SCR274N and BC375/BC348

[David Stinson]

One thing we've learned- 
there may have been a general, "standard" 
installation and mission for a radio set,
but they were in fact used just about
any way you can imagine.

The accounts of B-17s with SCR-274N in action 
and "Jurrasic repeaters" are not mutually exclusive.  
Eye-witness accounts carry
a lot of weight with me, and if Bob Johnson
says he saw it, I believe him.  
Was it the standard thing?  
The surviving documentation conclusively 
says "no."  Logs, sectionals and air
communications documents from that time
still exist and they show no duplex VHF channels.
In fact, late in the ETO channels became
standardized and were referred to as 
"Channel A," "Channel B," etc.
I have never seen or heard of a  
documented case of an SCR-522 or 
AN/ARC-5 VHF running split freqs.

Do I believe this repeater system was tried,
and may have even been operational on
some missions?  Almost certainly.  There may be
a technical reason why the SCR-522 front end
could not have operated as a repeater without
severe desense, even with a 40 meg split, 
but I've never looked at that.  
Until someone does, I'll take Bob's word for it.  
Do I think it was standard practice?  No.
The evidence for the SCR-274N in action 
and pilot HF command radio is conclusive.

SCR-522 did appear in many B-17s;
I have documentation of this.
It was included to provide
communication with escort fighters
as well as for other missions which required VHF.
But while there were some B-17s with SCR-522, 
virtually all carried SCR-274N.  
HF communication for the pilot 
was still indespensable at that time.

Kindly,
Dave S.