[ARC5] BC-1206 Antenna

[Robert Eleazer]

The BC-1206 typically used a long wire antenna that ran from the cockpit back to the top of the vertical tail of the airplane.  No doubt the antenna wire was insulated from the tail structure by the usual means

For the P-51D and K there was a pulley arrangement that allowed the wire to go through a hole in the canopy when it was slid back and forth.  The P-80A and P-80B had a similar antenna arrangement.

It appears that the BC-1206 was used only on fighters that had been fitted with SCR-522 or ARC-3 and thus lacked the LF receiver provided by the BC-452 of the SCR-274-N.  In at least some cases the set was considered to be temporary installation intended to facilitate ferrying of aircraft.

After WWII many P-51's fitted with ARC-3 had the BC-453 installed atop the ARC-3 so that it sat very obviously high up in the bubble canopy and the BC-1206 was deleted. 

Wayne