[ARC5] USN WWII Airship Radio Gear

[Mike Morrow]

Jay wrote:

> What comm and nav gear would be installed on anti sub patrol blimps?

The list of aircraft vs. radio gear in the USN document that Mike Hanz
has at

 http://aafradio.org/docs/1943-Navy-radio-gear.html 

provides some answers on the last page under the ZNP category for
K-class airships [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-Class_(ZNP-K) ].
I believe the K-class was the most common USN anti-sub and patrol
airship of WWII.  Ther were 135 built.

In the radio list:
MF/HF Command Set   GF-12/RU-17
MF/HF Liaison Set   GP-7/RU-19
VLF/LF/MF RDF Set   DZ-a
VHF Homing Adapter  ZB-1 (used with RU-17 above)
CFI                 LM-7

These lists really only suggest what might typically have actually been
in place.  The list on Mike's site is from a USN training publication.
I have an original of the full publication somewhere, but what Mike has
on his site is the most valuable and interesting part.

By the time that the US was involved in WWII it is unlikely that anything
like RAV sets were in typical airship service.  Only 50 RAV sets were
made.  I suspect most of those were aboard large patrol aircraft with GO-4
to GO-8 liaison transmitters, all between 1940 and 1941.  A few of those
aircraft could very well have been airships.  I also suspect that until
the GO-9, most previous GO transmitters were made in no larger quantity
than were the RAV sets.  All these sets appear to be very rare, and mostly
non-existent today, and perhaps since before WWII ended.

Mike / KK5F