[Milsurplus] Easier to buy than sell

[David Stinson]

> [Original Message]
> From: Bob Camp <ham at cq.nu>

> Am I the only one who finds it hard to believe that the BC-375 ever was  
> considered a lightweight aircraft radio? I'm not disputing the fact  
> that a ton of them flew in various bombers during the war. It just  
> seems like you could have gotten the job done without quite as much  
> weight.

Weight was only one consideration for WWII aircraft radio.
The transmitter also had to be reliable, 
easily maintained by lightly-trained "90-day-wonder" radio mechanics,
have good spare-parts logistics and available quickly.
The BC-375 fit all these requirements; 
it had a long history of satisfactory service pre-war,  
they were very easy to maintain,
there were already large stocks of spare parts available and
they could be mass-produced with a minimum of retooling.
There were many more sophisticated designs produced
during the war, but none in the Army or Navy that fit 
these early-war requirements so well. 
If you judge transmitters by strictly technical standards,
a half dozen beat the -375.  
If you judge them by the totality of 
requirements for a liaison transmitter
in the first two years of the war, 
the -375 was way ahead of them all.

73 DE Dave Stinson AB5S