[Milsurplus] Surplus stores, then and now

[William Donzelli]

> Back in the 60's, there was a surplus dealer in Linden, NJ on US Route 1,
> called US 1 Electronics.  At the time, to a high-school student unfamiliar
> with most WW II equipment, they seemed to have everything.  I do remember
> seeing some sort of  large dish antenna, maybe 10" diameter, on a trailer
> sitting in their back lot, rusting away.
> 
> Sadly, by the time I was out working with enough money to actually buy stuff
> from them, they had disappeared.

US 1 Electronics sorta-kinda still exists. They were the retail end of
Compass of Newark & Paterson, NJ. I bought out the remains of Compass a
couple of years ago, and managed to get bunches of boxes sorted with parts
from the US 1 store. Many of these boxes still have the prices (10 cents
for new octal ceramic tube sockets!). These boxes are slowly being
resorted into my stock, and will eventually make it onto my mythical web
page.

The radar trailer was a Western Electric SCR-545 - a rare beast. It was
never complete, and Compass tried for many years to sell it. As far as I
know, the only piece that remains is one of the power supplies, now in my
basement.

Compass is finally no more. After I took what I wanted, the metal went to
China. It was quite eery walking around the warehouse/armoury completely
empty. Arthur Bernstein, the owner, is still alive, but his health is
fading. His wife is doing OK, and still puts stuff up on Ebay.

William Donzelli
aw288 at osfn.org