[Milsurplus] TBX part two

[William Donzelli]

> That's a real good point.  At the time the Army was still fiddling
> around with stuff like the SCR-131 and the SCR-178.

It gets worse.

> (1)  When did the TBX-series first reach production/deployment?

TBO was probably being deployed in 1936. There were at least two TBO
contracts, in 1935 and 36 I think. TBO and TBX are basically the same
radio.

> To their credit they more than made up for lost time with some pretty
> good ground HF sets like the SCR-288, SCR-284, SCR-694, and
> SCR-299/399.

Credit where credit is due - SCR-288 and SCR-299/399 are militarized
commercial sets!

>  The VHF-FM SCR-508/608 and SCR-300 sets were impressive
> designs too, without a rough USN equivalent except the archaic
> TBY-series.

Pretty much all Navy FM sets of the War are commercial designs. 

>  I'd say that the Army did a better job coming up with
> capable gear, including the great ART-13/BC-348 AN/ARC-8 combo for
> aircraft HF.

The Air Corps had plenty of dogs and dead ends, however. SCR-240/261 and 
SCR-274 leap to mind, along with the BC-307.

>  Except for the ATC, the good war-designed Navy stuff
> (AN/ARC-1, 2, 12, ARR-15, etc.) seems to have showed up late or not at
> all before war's end.

Yup. Although I don't know if I would call the AN/ARC-12 "good".

> Incidental question number 1:  Has anyone seen any evidence of an ATD
> actually being installed in a military aircraft?

Yes, someone I know (a radio collector, but not military) used an ATD in a
Naval aircraft. Perhaps the only one!
 
William Donzelli
aw288 at osfn.org