[ARC5] Command set installation

[Michael Hanz]

On 6/26/2017 12:26 AM, Glenn Little WB4UIV wrote:
> I was on FIFI a B-29 this weekend.
> The three command set receivers all had the same antenna jumpered 
> between sets and the two command set transmitters had the antenna 
> terminals jumpered together.
>
> Is this the way the radios would have been configured when the 
> aircraft was in use in the War?

For the normal B-29s, yes.  The manual for the SCR-274N set shows that 
antenna configuration in the cording diagram.  The Silverplate bombers 
like the Enola Gay had the 274N command sets removed.  More on this in 
one of my web pages - http://aafradio.org/flightdeck/b29.htm and 
http://aafradio.org/NASM/Enola_Avionics_Descriptions_-_Radio_Op.htm

> The three receivers were above the ART-13 and had remotes just a short 
> distance away above the receivers and to the right of the receivers 
> above the BC-348-M.

Fifi is a special case.  Steve Williams (ex-KB4DMF) and I did some 
consulting on that project as it was evolving, affectionately called the 
WART (WWII Airborne Radio Team).  The Richardson Chapter of the Collins 
Amateur Radio Club offered to provide installation assistance as well as 
maintenance and operations of the equipment, and the FiFi people were 
enthusiastic about the idea of getting operational equipment on a long 
term loan with a team of radio enthusiasts ready to support it.  The 
Club's original hope was to recreate the original radio position exactly 
as it was in an operational B-29, with remote controls at the pilot and 
copilot's position, etc.  I made detailed sketches of the table and 
shelves necessary, and in their first demo back in Cedar Rapids, they 
built a quick plywood mockup for their set (originally assembled and 
tested by Steve) long before the idea of the Fifi initiative became 
reality.  More on that phase at http://www.w0cxx.us/b-29/index.html

But the devil is in the details, and as the plans became more solid, the 
Fifi operators began putting limits on what they could do.  No 274N 
controls for the pilot/copilot - they have enough to do just operating 
the modern avionics needed for safe flying.  The existing modern 
avionics couldn't be touched - they had to stay where they were, which 
was where the ART-13 would have gone in the radio operator's space.  I 
could go on for several pages, but you get the idea.  So the final 
configuration in Fifi was what I would call a pragmatic adaptation of an 
SCR-274N set to fit the constraints that kept popping up at every turn.  
At least it's flying, and presents the original radio types visually to 
the passengers who file through on every flight.

           73,
  - Mike  KC4TOS