[Milsurplus] SCR-269 ADF on PB2Y-3 ??

[J. Forster]

With 2 or better 3 bearings you can get your position exactly. One loop per
station. This would be especially useful to find something small in an area w/o
landmarks. There were even RDF indicators made with two needles for some of the
RDF systems like MN-26 (manual)  / MN-31 (automatic) and ARN-6 (as I remember).

A third bearing gives you a full fix. Also, the three separate systems have better
noise immunity than time sharing a single radio among three stations, not to
mention better real time data because the platform is moving.

The RDF's used shore stations for fixes, BTW.

-John


Hue Miller wrote:

> Just saw a photo of a "PB2Y-3 loaded with mail takes off from NAS, Honolulu,
> 1945".  ( Is this a "Mars" ? )  The top surface over the cockpit area has 3 of
> those streamlined RDF footballs ( antennas ) in a row. I am wondering, why
> 3 ADF sets??
>
> Also, the text: "A Navy patrol plane had just dropped a mail pouch to a
> submarine deep in enemy territory on a war patrol. The skipper of the
> sub sent this dispatch to HQ: 'Mail dropped without a hitch. Morale
> went up 100%, many thanks'. "
>
> #1 I had never heard before about mail drops to subs in "enemy territory".
> (maybe depends what you call "enemy territory".)
> #2 I thought submarines, and actually all warships, were under radio silence,
> only to transmit when absolutely necessary.
>
> Your input?  Tnx,
> Hue Miller
> _