[Hallicrafters] Destruct buttons in mil gear

[Mike Everette]

What did you do about the Thermite?

One of my friends back in high school got a piece of
gear from Army MARS -- if I remember right I think it
was an AN/PPN-2 radar beacon that was used by OSS
agents or maybe Resistance fighters for marking drop
zones for paratrooper or supply aircraft.  Real
interesting piece of gear and quite rare today; I
think it worked somewhere in the viciity of 220 MHz.
That thing had a little red cap on the panel that had
to be unscrewed.  It was plainly marked DESTRUCT.  It
also said "Remove cap and get 25 feet away within 3
seconds."  The dumbutt had no more sense than to
unscrew the cap "to see what would happen" and just
sat there looking at the radio with a clueless "Whut
th' Hay-ul does this do?" expression on his face.  I
was running like H*LL!  Fortunately, the thermite
charge was not in it.  But he had no way of knowing
that; I was there when he received it and unwrapped
the thing brand new from its overseas packing so I
know he had not looked at it before and wasn't pulling
a stunt.  That guy must have been one of God's
Favorite Chil'lun.

73

Mike
WA4DLF





 
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