[ARC5] RAT and RAT-1: The Arizona Connection

[David Stinson]

My first RAT receiver came from Tucson, Arizona.
I now have two RATs, two RAT-1s, a mount and 
two dynamotors, plus a few small accessories.
Most of these came from Arizona.
Mike Hanz's set came from .... Arizona.
The recent rack and mount sold on Ebay came from
(you get one guess).... RIGHT!  Arizona.

There's a story here somewhere.... 

We'll probably never find the records.
You'd think that if these were never installed,
they would source out of the North East, 
where the big surplus buyers would have snagged them.
The aircraft boneyards were in Arizona.
Does this mean that the RATs actually got installed
and were removed from retired aircraft?
That might explain why it's so hard to find mounts
and boxes, besides the obvious fact that there are
only 50 of each.  Most mounts and boxes got
smelted into lawn furniture by heathens.
At first glance, most don't appear to have been installed.
But then, many other sets we know were installed came
out in good shape.  Were the unused crates sent to 
the boneyards?  Don't know why that would be, since
none of the other still-crated stuff seems to have gone 
that route; it got sold-off where it was or bulldozed under.

Speculations welcome.

73 Dave S.