[ARC5] "Was the P-51 Mustang unbeatable?"

[Mike Morrow]

My vote for the most effective US fighter in WWII goes to the Grumman F6F-3 and -5 Hellcat.

I believe it likely that the radio installation on these models is as shown (at Mike Hanz's excellent site) on sheet 5 of 9 of the AN/ARC-5 Maintenance Manual Fig. 8-55.  That drawing shows:

-> Three-receiver rack with
    * VHF ZB-Homing Receiver
       (R-4*/ARR-2)
    * HF Communications Receiver
       (R-26/ARC-5 most likely)
     * VHF Communications Receiver, 4-Channel
       (R-28/ARC-5)

-> Two-transmitter rack with
    * HF Communications Transmitter
       (T-20/ARC-5 very likely)
     * VHF Communications Transmitter, 4-Channel
       (T-23 or T-126/ARC-5)

This same drawing in the AN/ARC-5 Operator's Manual is labeled as being a "Single-Seat Fighter" installation.  This is the AN/ARC-5 plus AN/ARR-2 configuration that I have assembled for my collection.

It's interesting how much more capability exists in this installation, compared to earlier "command set" installations of similar size.  The P-51 would have had nothing as versatile...just a plain 3-receiver 2-transmitter MF/HF SCR-274-N or a 4-channel VHF SCR-522-A with BC-1206-* range receiver.

Mike / KK5F

-----Original Message-----
From: MARK DORNEY <mkdorney at aol.com>
Sent: Aug 18, 2021 10:06 PM

A P-51 was a good aircraft, but was certainly not &ldquo; unbeatable&rdquo;. No aircraft is. 

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