[ARC5] WWII Fighters, Oct. 1944 (LONG)

[David Stinson]

Been trying to get this written for months so I can send this 
book off to a retired engineer friend.  He might enjoy reading
about a bunch of fellow engineers noodling over the many 
problems concerning fighter aircraft in October of 1944:

"Report of Joint Fighter Conference, NAS Patuxent River, MD
16-23 Oct. 1944,"  edited by Francis H. Dean and published
by Schiffer Military History of Atglen, PA.  Copyright 1998.
ISBN: 0-7643-0404-6

Very interesting book if you want to see 
"how the sausage is made."  
A large group of aeronautical engineers with 
representatives from all branches of the U.S. military,
Brits from the RAF, Royal Navy and 
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, from NACA 
and from every major aircraft manufacturer of the time.
Charles Lindbergh was there, 
representing United Aircraft Corp.

They had many fighters- both USAAC, USN and USMC, plus
three Brit aircraft (Mosquito, Firefly and Seafire) and prototypes,
including the first US jet, the P-59, available for evaluation flights.
They also had a captured Japanese Zeke.
For some reason, there were a lot of Corsair variants.

There are some radio insights in the text, including this amusing
passage on the trials and troubles of finding a good microphone:

(USN Commander Ramsey:)
".... Are there any comments on throat mikes verses hand mikes
or oxygen mikes?"
(USMC Lieutenant Colonel Renner:)
".... Along the line of the throat mike verses the hand mike 
versus the mustache mike and of course the rest of them, 
our radio and electric people in the Bureau of Aeronautics 
spend about 10 billion dollars a year trying to figure up 
new gadgets and we are continually bombarded with 
a new type of mike that is absolutely the answer.  
We have at present on order 250,000 noise-canceling 
microphones that you wear under your nose like a mustache 
and, needless to say, when that order arrived and we sent 
them out for test, they found out that unless you wear 
a mustache, it irritated your upper lip.  
So it not only looks like one, but you need a mustache to wear it. 
This proved to be so uncomfortable and there was some kind 
of chemical in the mike that when you perspire a little, 
which is normal wearing this mike, it wasn't long before you
 had a tremendous itching and you tried to push the mike away 
with your tongue, your teeth, etc. and strange noises 
were uttered during all speeches.  
Don't let that worry you, because the same brainstorms 
that figured this one up have a better one...."

There is also a discussion of how to get more armor
protection for the pilot.  Placing the radio directly behind
him to take the bullets was suggested.
There is a good discussion of the various Radar equipment
then in use during the fourth meeting.

The best "radio" data comes from cockpit detail photos
and from flight data evaluation cards which listed
the types of radios installed.  Ironically, the Brit aircraft
are all using 3105 HF.   Tell you one about getting old:
a few days ago, I came across another reference that
explained why the Brit aircraft here were using HF,
and I thought: "Oh, so that's why!"  I started to write
it down, when Life interfered again (phone, etc.).
Now I can't remember what it was or where I found it,
blast it..... grumble.  I'm probably find it again in 
six or ten months.

All the USAAC aircraft were outfited with SCR-522,
save the P-59 which had SCR-274N installed.
The USN aircraft had a mix of HF/VHF, 
some with HF frequencies selected for use.
Below is a table of the data compiled from the book.

I hope this will be of some interest to you.
If you'd enjoy reading how all the little problems from
the right colors to use on the panels (we were just 
discussing that) to how to keep the cockpit warm/cool etc.,
I recommend the book.

73 DE Dave AB5S

RAF "Firefly": 
ATA/ARA with British IFF
RAF Seafire: 
GF/RU

RAF Mosquito: 
Bendix? (No data card. 
Cockpit photo shows Bendix box).

P-63A: 
SCR-522, IFF

P-61B: 
SCR-522, Detrola Range, SCR-720& -729

YP-59 Jet: 
3RX / 2TX SCR-274N, IFF

P-51D: 
SCR-522, Detrola Range, IFF, throat mic

P-47M: 
SCR-522, Detrola Range, throat mic

P-47D: 
SCR-522, Detrola Range, IFF, throat mic.

P-38L: 
SCR-522, Detrola Range, throat mic.

F2G Super Corsair: 
ARC-5 HF/VHF, ABA, ABX

XF2G-1: 
All controls 6-inch console mount.
AN/ARC-5 VHF, Two-RX Mixer panel for "HF" and "VHF," 
VHF selected. AN/ARR-2 control, C-125/ARC-5 RX control 
with R-23 dial, RS-38 hand mic.

FG-1 Corsair: 
ATA/ARA, ZB-1, ABK-1

FG-1 Corsair: 
AN/ARC-5 HF/VHF C-30, HF TX-1 selected,
C-38 RX control box for HF/VHF RX plus ARR-2,
"HF Receiver" selected, C-26/ARC-5 single RX
control box with R-23 dial, RS-38 mic.

FG-1A Corsair:
 AN/ARC-5 HF/VHF C-30, HF TX-1 selected,
C-38 RX control box for HF/VHF RX plus ARR-2,
C-26/ARC-5 single RX control box with R-23 dial.

F4U: Vaught Corsair: 
ATA/ARA, ZB-1, ABK-1

XF8F Bearcat: 
AN/ARC-1, AN/ARR-2, 
AN/APX-1, BC-1206

F7F Tigercat: 
AN/ARC-5 HF/VHF, AN/ARR-2, 
AN/APS-6,  AN/APN-1, AN/APS-2

F6F Hellcat: 
C-38/ARC-5 RX control box, 
C-30/ARC-5 TX control box with HF TX-1 selected, 
C-26/ARC-5 Rx control box with R-23 dial,
AN/APX-1, AN/ARR-2, RS-38 hand mic.

XF4U-4 Corsair (cockpit photo): 
All controls 6-inch console mount.
AN/ARC-5 VHF, Two-RX Mixer panel for "HF" and "VHF," 
VHF selected. AN/ARR-2 control, C-125/ARC-5 RX control 
with R-23 dial, RS-38 hand mic.

FM-2 Wildcat:
 AN/ARC-1, AN/ARR-2, BC-1206, RS-32 mic.

Captured Japanese "Zeke": 
GF/RU