Why would you think it was used as a voice transmitter ? But there is the crux of the problem - why contact the tower by CW when you are that close ? I don't recall what size plane it was, but i think large enough to have pilot voice radio.
Failing that, i think maybe a light gun could come into play.
I once bought a LARGE HEAVY "German receiver off an Italian cruiser" that came via same gentleman. The fellow who then owned it next, right before me, bought this tale. I was similarly flummoxed before i put 2 and 2 together and realized Germany
had no 9 pin minis in the war years. The rec was a 2 man and a boy lift. I found some photo of it in CQ mag. I am wondering right now if i could find it in that large book on Western world's SW communication receivers.
Live and learn, a fool is soon parted from his money, and...so on.
While i'm on this topic, i am reminded of an article in good old CQ, this a war years memoir, which was 100% BS. Maybe more than 100%. I wondered, how could the editor be so dumb ? Author supposedly met Roosevelt, Churchill and more, and supposedly
convinced the navies to adopt VLF for convoy communications. Pure, streaming BS. I do have to admit, though, in earlier decades i was snowed by supposed true "veteran accounts" which were purest BS. My BS detector is better calibrated now.
-Hue Miller
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