[ARC5] A-36 Antenna

[Gene Smar]

Gents:

     One more tidbit, mainly from my familiarity with the radio package, not 
the airframe:  The P-51's (and other craft) also had APS-13 proximity RADARs 
onboard.  These warning RADARs, aka Archies, included two rear-facing 
half-Yagi antennae with folded dipole driven elements, mounted on the 
vertical stabilizer.  Specs were 400 MHz, 100 W and 2000 foot range.  A red 
light illuminated inside the cockpit whenever another aircraft approached 
from behind.

     As an aside, and in the greatest of ironies IMHO, four each also were 
included as altimeter RADARS on the Little Boy and Fat Man atomic weapons. 
They were wired in series-parallel to trigger the weapons at predetermined 
altitudes AGL - within the 2000 foot range of the RADARs.


73 de
Gene Smar  AD3F


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Eleazer" <releazer at earthlink.net>
To: <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2011 6:51 PM
Subject: [ARC5] A-36 Antenna


>I dug out my copy of the book "Walk Around Allison Engined Mustangs." The 
>antenna situation is interesting.
>
> The early Mustang Mk. 1 and P-51-1 airplanes had an antenna right behind 
> the cockpit that looks like a tube that is transitions from a circular 
> section to a flatter section a few inches from the fuselage.
>
> The A-36 as deployed in the Med had an antenna located in the same place 
> that starts out as a short section of streamline cross section about 6 
> inches long and maybe 2 inches wide and then goes to a circular tube. No 
> wire antenna is evident attached to the mast.
>
> Other A-36's had an antenna that looked very much like an AN-104, and the 
> USAF Museum's A-36A is fitted with an AN-104.
>
> The P-51A's in Burma had what seems to be a straight flattened tube mast. 
> We know those airplanes had SCR-274-N, which proved to be more useful than 
> VHF when talking to ground forces. However the beautifully restored P-51A 
> at the Yanks Air Museum at Chino, CA has what loosk just like such an 
> antenna installed and it's pretty clear that they have it hooked to an 
> SCR-522.
>
> So I guess that just about clears it up!
>
> Wayne
>
> WB5WSV
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