[Milsurplus] TCS-12

[J. Forster]

telegrapher at att.net wrote:

> The local outfit here doesn't want working gear because it's not legal.
> Yes i said, i know that but for show it would be really neat to have
> working gear that people coming thru the airplane could put on a headset
> or have a speaker plugged into the rack and they could listen to
> something.  Nope, he says.  Besides working gear can be excluded because
> of the weight and that's a seat for revenue generation.  My eyes glazed
> over ...

The war birds occasionally come to this area and I've considered going to see
them on occasion, but ever since learning that the radio areas are dummied up at
best, I decided not to bother.

Sure, it would be kind of neat to see them close up, but the real brains of the
planes were their ability to communicate and navigate and find their intended
targets. I'd very much like to see a bomber fitted out for air drops, with a
working Rebecca, or a working Norden bombsight or an AZON control station, or
even just a working MN-26 or MN-31.

While the pilots were certainly heroic, without the ability to find and hit a
target, the likelihood of a successful mission was very low.

How could large areas of ocean be searched without an ASB-5 or without an APS-4?
How many Axis subs would have survived to destroy our convoys?

Basically, my irritation with this issue, is that war has become a Hollywood
shoot 'em up game, with hard drinking, hard playing, pilots as heroes, rather
than a carefully planned assault using the best technology available. Brains
don't count...  just vthe ability to fire a gun.

I personally was told of one WW II pilot that really screwed up an important
mission because he was supposed to lead, because he made a navigational error
due to his failure to attend some of the pre-flight briefings. As a result of
his error, many other bomber crews were killed or injured, but he was never
punished.

Another way to think of the importance of technology is suppose the guidance and
weapons and communications systems of today were fitted to B-17s. Would the
outcome of the last two wars have been any different? I think not.  The public
does not appreciate this, and reenactors who spurn radios and radar are doing a
disservice to the truth. Pilots are glorified bus or truck drivers.

-John