[ARC5] ARC-12 and ARC-60 and APN-9A

[Robert Eleazer]

I understand that the U-2 used the Type-12/ARC-60 sets.  I guess that with weight very much at a premium (note that due to weight the U-2 had no constant speed drive for the generator - the AC freq varied all over the place) and given the limited number of airfields that U-2's visited in that era, that was feasible.  I can't imagine a lighter military VHF installation than the ARC-60 (other than, say, a URC-4).  And of course there was the UHF converter available, too - I have one of those in pristine condition I have never fired up.  But I think the U-2 had other UHF gear.    

Also no doubt every Type 12/ARC-60 installation, civilian or military, had 121.5 MHZ, which worked everywhere if it was necessary. 

A friend of mine was escorting a group of foreign journalists around a U.S. airbase in Turkey when he got word that a U-2 was inbound.  This was pre-Powers shootdown, so it was very hush-hush.

Rather than ushering all of the reporters into a sealed room, thus tipping them off to something big, they just did nothing.  The U-2 landed and one of the reporters took a photo of it,  A little later my friend approached the reporter and said that he had just found out that one of the aircraft he had taken pictures of on the other side of the field had a new classified nose modification.  He said he was going to be in big trouble with the top brass if that photo got out.  The reporter said he understood perfectly, and handed him the film that had the U-2 shots on it, unaware there was no "classified nose mod."         

John:

The "3AAMA OCT 50" probably is in reality SAAMA, which stands for San Antonio Air Material Area, the former name of the USAF's Air Logistics Centers, and probably refers to mods and overhaul (IRAN as it was known), as well as MFP treatment at Kelly AFB in October of 1950.  Does it have a big red winged emblem decal on it?

The W33 line sounds like a contract number.


Wayne