[Milsurplus] USAF UHF Use.

[C Whitaker]

de WB2CPN                   2004.12.19

UHF was no stranger to USAF at the end of WWII.  They had the
SCS-51 Glide Slope on 400 or so MHz.  I had some hands on
experience with the SCS-51, and I'll tell you we came a long
way before the 50's.  I think the 2C39 and the 4X150 were
the keys to airborne UHF.  About Korea, I installed a lot
of VHF at various places there in 50-52.  BC-640/BC-639.
Have pictures of the mountain top at Taegu.  Put in a lot
of URD-2 VHF Direction Finders.  Never once saw UHF.  Never
heard an 86 on anyting but VHF.  The great leap forward for
UHF was that all those frequencies could be set without
crystals.  As tactical air operations got more and more
layers it took more and more frequencies.  ARC-3 was OK
in its day if one had a pocket full of crystals.  USAF
got serious about UHF when it designed their RAPCON around
UHF.  GRT-3's and GRR-7.  Also GRC-27 for back up.  CRD-6
was the Direction Finder although the antennas weren't
worth a damn.  GRC-32 or ARC-27 was usually the tower and
GCA backup.  GCA had a forced air cooler that replaced the
fan on the ARC-27.  The fan was real noisy.

73  Clete