[Milsurplus] Last flight of the LBG

[Mike Morrow]

Ray Fantini <RAFANTINI at salisbury.edu> wrote:

> Couple more thoughts on the LBG flight, what was the radio that was
> removed and installed on the C-54? have read somewhere it was a ARC-1
> but not cretin. 

One may be certain it was not an AN/ARC-1, which was a USN VHF rig that I'm not convinced even made it into frontline service before the end of WWII.  I doubt there was any JAN-nomenclature gear on board.

The LBG was an early-war B-24D serial 41-24301.  It was lost on its first (and very unsuccessful) combat mission in April 1943.  There's no reason to believe that it carried anything more or less what was standard for that time:
SCR-287 liason radio
SCR-274-N command radio
SCR-269 ADF
SCR-595 IFF (only a possibility)
SCR-211 Frequency Meter
SCR-578 Emergency portable 500 kc transmitter.
RC-43 Marker beacon receiver
RC-36 Interphone 

Since the LBG did not operate out of the UK, I doubt that it carried the SCR-522 VHF command set.

It's likely that only the BC-348 component of the SCR-287, the BC-453 component of the SCR-274-N, or much less probably the BC-433 component of the SCR-269 would have still been in use in a 1958-era USAF aircraft.   My bets are on one of these three candidates as the radio item that was placed back in service (on a C-47).  Personally, my money is on the BC-348, for the AN/ARC-8 set that was common on late-1950s USAF C-47s. 

The best book I've ever read on the LBG is the relatively recent "Lady's Men" by Mario Martinez.  It's hard to escape the conclusion that the navigator was not competent.  Even chart plotting instruments were found stowed in the LBG, as if no real effort at dead reckoning was being exerted during the flight.   It's sad that this crew lost its life accomplishing nothing and producing a net negative result for the war effort.  But I'm sure this happens many times over in war.

Mike / KK5F