[ARC5] Fw: [Glowbugs] Catalina communications - 1939

[Bob Macklin]

I thought some of the people here might find this interesting.

Bob Macklin
K5MYJ
Seattle, Wa.
"Real Radios Glow In The Dark"

Subject: [Glowbugs] Catalina communications - 1939


>I recently acquired a fascinating little book titled "Flying Cats."  The
> author, Andrew Hendrie, flew Catalinas (built by Consolidated in the 
> United
> States) for the RAF during WWII.  The particular edition I have was 
> published
> by the Naval Institute Press in 1988.
>
> The entire book would be interesting to those interested in various 
> aspects of
> aviation, but there is just a little glowbug content that I find quite
> interesting on pages 2 and 3.
>
> In 1939 a crew from the United States flew a PBY-4 Catalina from the 
> United
> States to Felixstowe, England.  While landing, the crew was in contact 
> with
> San Diego (presumably the Consolidated plant) using the Bendix radio 
> equipment
> on board the Catalina.  The British hosts expressed skepticism about that
> contact, so the American crew took some of the British airmen aloft the 
> next
> day and again worked San Diego.
>
> I don't know what Bendix equipment the PBY-4 had on board, but a photo on 
> page
> 148 shows Bendix radio equipment installed in a Royal Australian Air Force
> Catalina, type unspecified.  I'm not familiar with specific units of 
> Bendix
> equipment, but three of the four units are command set sized and the 
> fourth is
> larger.  The frequency and mode used are not specified in the book.
>
> Maybe the following were factors in achieving such a contact with 
> equipment
> and antennas generally designed for much shorter range communications:
>
> 1. 1939 was situated in the descending phase (1938-1944) of Sunspot Cycle 
> 17,
> but was not far downstream in time from the peak, so the sunspot number 
> would
> probably have been favorable;
>
> 2.  The installation in San Diego may have featured high power, sensitive
> receivers, and/or good antennas;
>
> 3.  The PBY-4 was aloft, altitude unspecified, during the contacts 
> described,
> and the vertical radiation pattern of the antenna(s) would probably have 
> been
> better suited for DX purposes than if the aircraft had been on the 
> surface;
>
> 4.  I am not sure of the location of Felixstowe, but the "salt water 
> amplifier"
> may or may not have been significant in these contacts.
>
> Well, I thought this might be interesting, especially to those of use who
> enjoy and use old military radio equipment.
>
>
> 73,
>
>
> Maynard
> W6PAP
>
>
>
> -- 
> ZCZC
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