[Milsurplus] Re: WW2 B-29 VHF radio?

[email protected] [email protected]
Sun, 3 Feb 2002 04:26:08 EST


<< C  channel = air/sea 
 rescue comm.  >>

After posting the original note i thought about this clarification:
the C channel - emergency channel - did NOT include any
comms  to downed aviators - it was just for planes in distress,
on way down, or planes reporting others going down, to 
communicate with the "Rescue Dumbo" B-29.  At one point
in the story, on the return from a Japan mission, there are so 
many calls on the channel that the Dumbo has to order them to
slow down, listen, and report in, one by one.

I think the CRC-7 dates from those years but i have never read
any account of it being used then. Certainly it would have been
very useful and saved some lives if downed pilots would have had
it or a similar voice and beacon set. Possibly it was too expensive
and cumbersome to supply to every aircrew member along with
the parachute and dingy kit?
Regards, Hue Miller