[ARC5] Fw: B-25 Radios In Germany

Thu Sep 30 12:18:19 EDT 2010

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Henry Mei'l's" <meils at get2net.dk>
To: "Robert Eleazer" <releazer at earthlink.net>
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 5:58 PM
Subject: Re: [ARC5] B-25 Radios In Germany


> Hi Wayne,
>
> Yes - I know SAS (the airline, not the Special British forces!) also  used 
> quite a bit of US WWII mil gear, way back. It's the fact that my units are 
> painted army green that makes me think they were used in a mil or mil-type 
> outfit. The Danish militaryes did  paint US gear- eg. a TCS rcvr I once 
> had here has íts cabinet painted a kind of hammer tone light-green.My son 
> was a professional soldier in the Danish NATO/KFOR Electronic Surveillance 
> unit of the Telegaph Troops, and he MIGHT know about this but his 
> experience is in the 90's not the 50's.  BTW I now notice that underneath 
> the outer peeling coat of green paint there is a more traditional lightly 
> darker army khaki coating .
>
> Here's the info on my untis:
>
> The usual US ID bakelite (?) etiquette .. "BC-45X .. replaced by plates 
> with the following text::
> (on one unit , 1.5 - 3 (MC /MHz):
>
> EMPFÄNGER
> E-274-1
> GERAT Nr, ***
>
> (on other unit, 3-8 MC / MHz) unit reads
> E-274-2
> GERAT Nr. ***
>
> (the oval stamped text on the inside,  rear wall of the tube enclosure 
> reads:
>
> NAG 5 NIII A/A   -- I guess this is the real ID clincher for anyone in the 
> know.
>
> Inside the tube lid we have "Umformer"
>
> And as all of you Oktoberfest Biergarten fans out there must  know, 
> Empfänger means receiver (literally 'capturer')
> Gerat means apparatus or equipment  and Umformer stands for dynamo 
> (literally 'changer or 'trans-former' or 'converter').
>
> SO they both APPEAR to be  BC-45X  SCR-274-N units and not R/2X-ARC-5 
> units.
>
> (the labels are not all that legible - therefor my previous uncertainty 
> about them unit type)
>
> Yes I know there were a miriad of different productions, model id -s , 
> special applications ..
>
> To be honest, quoting Bret Hart/Clark Gable "Frankly my dear I don't give 
> a damn!"
>
> I'm only going through all this for the those on this thread who are 
> focussed  upon precise ID' s
> of Command set units and aggregates. I do have an interest in the history 
> of Comand sets
> and all military - especially naval- gear, in general and enjoy reading 
> Gordon White's articles about  Commande sets.
>
> Obviously I am not in the same league as the experts on this thread but I 
> hope I'm adding some kind of
> positive input here.
>
> My main interest here right now is knowing a bit more about my own little 
> green Gerate.
>
>
> Henry, Cph. ...
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Robert Eleazer" <releazer at earthlink.net>
> To: "Henry Mei'l's" <meils at get2net.dk>
> Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 4:00 PM
> Subject: Re: [ARC5] B-25 Radios In Germany
>
>
>> Henry:
>>
>> Fairly recently I found out that after WWII some companies took surplus
>> command set and other military gear and modified them for commercial use 
>> by
>> the airlines.  On ebay there was a BC-453 with airline markings and I 
>> asked
>> the ARC-5 group about it.  Also, I have a couple of DM-21 dynamotors that
>> were modified by Lear for some commercial application.  Interestingly
>> enough, both the BC-453 and the DM-21's had added vent holes done in what
>> was clearly a factory manner.
>>
>> So perhaps your German sets were surplus ones modded for German military 
>> use
>> or even Lufthansa use by a private firm.
>>
>> By the way, some obviously German marked and gray painted Command sets
>> showed up on ebay a year or so back.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Wayne
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Henry Mei'l's" <meils at get2net.dk>
>> To: "Robert Eleazer" <releazer at earthlink.net>; "Discussion of AN/ARC-5
>> military radio equipment." <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 2:51 AM
>> Subject: Re: [ARC5] B-25 Radios In Germany
>>
>>
>>> I'm farily certain that there  was a certain amount of "liberating" of 
>>> mil
>>> radio gear immediately after the war. My now deceased father-in-law
>>> mentioned someting about getting hold of radio gear that was supposed to
>>> have been destroyed. But I think in his case it was either German gear
>>> left in Denmark or in occupied Germany. I farily certain he was in the
>>> Danish army after the war - maybe sent in as part of the occupying 
>>> forces
>>> in Germany after having been involved in , shall I say,  causing
>>> "explosive disruptions" of German train traffic in Denmark during the 
>>> war.
>>> He was never very explicit about all to this.
>>> However my germanized Command set units seem to be part of an officially
>>> sanctioned program. Maybe this much ado about nothing.
>>> Still, I find the subject an interesting new angle on Command sets.
>>>
>>> I also read somewhere that the British ordered German mil radio gear in
>>> occupied Germany destroyed, but at some point then decicded that the
>>> components were to be used/reused in getting up local  production of
>>> radios for the civilian population.
>>>
>>> Also read somewhere that the US Navy had no use for captured/surrendered
>>> German naval craft (difficulties in mainting metric craft ? or maybe a
>>> political decision) had them dismanteled or used them for target 
>>> practice.
>>> I'm certain others on this thread have much more precise and specific
>>> knowledge about these subjects.
>>> I know the Danish Navy made good use of surrendered German torpedo 
>>> boats -
>>> one of my ham radio acquaintances here was radio operator on one of 
>>> them.
>>> My deparment chief at one of the electronics outfits I worked for was a
>>> nephew of the Danish admiral that ordered the scuttling of the  Danish
>>> naval ships at the Copenhagen base in 1943.  (I admire the actions of 
>>> the
>>> Admiral but didn't find much to admire in his nephew ;0)
>>>
>>> Henry, Cph.
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Robert Eleazer" <releazer at earthlink.net>
>>> To: <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
>>> Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 4:19 AM
>>> Subject: [ARC5] B-25 Radios In Germany
>>>
>>>
>>>> Combining two recent discussion items, I thought I would relate this
>>>> story, told to me by one of my college professors.
>>>>
>>>> He had been a US Army infantry officer in Europe in WWII and was an
>>>> amateur radio operator as well.  After the war his unit was given the 
>>>> job
>>>> of disposing of 100 war weary B-25 bombers.
>>>>
>>>> The B-25's were still fully equipped with radios and he planned to 
>>>> remove
>>>> the sets and use them to organize a radio networks for US forces in
>>>> southern Germany.  He was told he would do no such thing, to leave the
>>>> radios in the airplanes, and a senior officer came down to see him to
>>>> make sure he understood the order.  So they wrapped primacord around 
>>>> the
>>>> wings and tail, blew the airplanes apart along those lines, and buried
>>>> them, radios and all.
>>>>
>>>> So, somewhere in Germany, underground, and presumably near a WWII
>>>> airfield, are 100 very original 274-N installations and presumably some
>>>> BC-375's and BC-348's as well.
>>>>
>>>> Wayne
>>>> WB5WSV
>>>> ______________________________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
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>>
>
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