[ARC5] British WWII Avionics

[Sandy]

All the SCR-522's I have ever seen were with the dual "crown" orange 
nameplates and the US ones side by side.

All the "surplus" SCR-522's I saw and all the ones we actually used in the 
50's in the Douglas B-26 (Which is not at all the same as the Martin B-26) 
I NEVER saw any VHF ARC-5 equipment used in any AAF/ Air Force aircraft. 
The "replacement for the SCR-522 in most instances was the AN/ARC-3.  It was 
an 8 channel radio crystal controlled, but MUCH easier to  set frequencies 
in and test for cross country flights where the usual channels were not 
used.  It used basically the same tubes and a better circuit.  The output 
power was about the same, around 10-15 watts.

Eventually the B-26's had AN/ARC-27 UHF radios installed.  Also our C-47A 
aircraft had the ARC-3 and the ARC-27 installation.

7    3,

Sandy W5TVW

-----Original Message----- 
From: Robert Eleazer
Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2012 8:48 PM
To: arc5 at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [ARC5] British WWII Avionics

I note that all of the SCR-522 sets have both U.S. and British nametags.  I 
wonder if any other equipment had that feature?

The 522 must not have been too horrible, because it appears that the 
receiver formed the basis for the BC-639 ground radio, which of course 
dispensed with that bizarre crystal tuning scheme.

I read that the British invented microwave airborne radar and bought it to 
the U.S.  They thought the Americans were boastful when they described their 
enthusiasm for the new technology and how they would use it.  But a month 
after the British introduced the U.S. to the radar technology the U.S. knew 
as much as the British and had designed their own version of the set, with a 
better receiver.  A month after that the new factory to build the sets was 
completed.  And a month after that the set was in full production.  The 
British were astonished.  The Americans were not bragging but simply stating 
facts.  The British quit building the sets and just bought them from the 
U.S..  They eventually started building some of their own later, just so 
they would not forget how.

I think the same thing happened with the SCR-522.

As for British bomber radios, I would guess they had no need for a "command 
set."  The RAF heavy bombers did little daylight formation flying until the 
latter part of 1944, when the USAAF had pretty well cleaned up the Luftwaffe 
relative to the shorter range missions, such as to France.  I wonder if the 
B-17's, B-24's and B-25's the British operated used U.S. or British radios?

Wayne


______________________________________________________________
ARC5 mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/arc5
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:ARC5 at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html


-----
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.2195 / Virus Database: 2437/5116 - Release Date: 07/07/12