[ARC5] ARC in general ... was More SCR-183 Trivia

[Kludge]

-----Original Message-----
From: gordon white [mailto:gewhite at crosslink.net] 
> Remember - Arnold and other Air Corps big-wigs were flying from 
> Washington up to Boonton in the 1930s, for drinks, poker & hunting with 
> A.R.C. folks, who were doing the best work on aircraft radio of anybody 
> in the industry

Very true ... along with an Admiral or two.  While the AAC's presence was
greater, the Navy had deeper pockets.  One advantage ARC had was that
aircraft radio, specifically the lower powered equipment used by the
military for command radios, was *all* they did while GE, Western Electric,
RCA et al did other things as well.  Even Stromberg-Carlson, who was the
original manufacturing contractor when RFC did the designing and all ARC did
was installation and maintenance, was "multi-faceted."  

Even after the war, all ARC did was aircraft radios (and flight directors)
although geared more for the light aircraft industry.  The exception was
work on the (RCA?) AN/APR-9 although I don't know the extent of that work.
They *sold* other products to keep their heads above water like commercial
radios and, I'm told, kitchen appliances but they only built avionics.  

In 1962-1963, after Cessna had controlling interest for several years, they
(Cessna) required ARC to go in a new direction, inexpensive panel mounted
radios which de-emphasized the quality for which ARC was known.  The
engineering department was given 180 days in which to do this and when they
failed to produce a product contrary to what ARC had traditionally been
known for Cessna fired the lot and brought in new hires who produced what
Cessna wanted but also upset and angered more than a few repair station
managers & repairmen to the point they refused to work on any of the new
equipment.  One retired manager I talked to told me that the equipment
netted the company the name "Awful Radio Company" and more than one told me
they spent a lot of time swapping out ARC radios for King and Narco
equipment.  

As an aside, I have to say that Cessna built the jet I had the most time in,
the airplane I think I had the most fun in and would have bought had I had
the funds, the T-37 Tweet.  Talk about a chick magnet!  Okay, a bit of a
noisy one but still ... :-D

I'd still like to find some Cessna era radios to include with the collection
since technically they are part of ARC history.  Operational ones would be
nice so they can go with the rest of the equipment as part of the operating
display "package" however all of the equipment, whether airworthy or not
(which most if not all isn't as of 1 Jan 1991), still seems to command a
price that is, to me, way out of line.  

Best regards,
 
Michael, WH7HG ex-K3MXO, ex-KN3MXO, WPE3ARS, BL01xh ex-Mensa A&P PP BGI 
I am me.  I’m the only one who’s qualified.
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/chapters/NTH/index.aspx
http://wh7hg.blogspot.com/
http://kludges-other-blog.blogspot.com
Hiki Nô!