[ARC5] ZB Use

[Robert Eleazer]

I am in the process of reading the book "The Twilight Warriors" about the battle for Okinawa.  When the USN attacked the battleship IJN Yamato when it sortied to engage our forces in the process of invading Okinawa, included in the attack force were some VBF-10 F4U Corsairs carrying bombs.

After attacking the IJN ships, in one of the flights of F4U's the lead pilot signaled to his wingman that he had radio failure and should lead them home.  The pilot, one of the newcomers to the squadron, knew he could use his ZB equipment to find the carrier, but since it only had a range of around 60 miles and they were over 200 miles from the ship, he needed a good heading to even get within range of the ZB.  He heard someone who sounded like he knew what he was doing giving a heading to fly and used that.  Sure enough, some time later he picked up the ZB signal and found the ship.

Also, Reference ebay Item 370556637965

That sure looks like a BC-312, just like the one I have out in my garage.  Like mine, a power cord to allow an external power supply to be used has been added and the power connector has been removed from the front.  It's no aircraft radio!

P.S.

If anyone wants photos of the VHF ARC-5 installation in the Bell X-1, I can scan the ones in the reference book.

Wayne
WB5WSV