[Milsurplus] RE: Bomber Radio Pictures

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On 4/17/06, Falls, Jim <Jim.Falls at conservation.ca.gov> wrote:
> Several members of our local Ham club will be setting up a working command radio exhibit at Arcata-Eureka Airport when the planes visit in June. It would've been fun to use the command sets and BC-348 for air to ground comm from the planes, but looks like that isn't possible, based on the photos. Does anyone know if these are functional? Maybe we need to do a little digging for cables and hardware up here.

The biggest issue is getting the time to do it, since the planes are
gone most of the year. Unless you have pre-made cables removed from a
B-17, it will require a diagram of the correct paths used and
measurements of same, plus the correct cable and connectors. They
might have the tubes for the BC-375 stored in their hangar, or might
not.

The trick would be to schedule time while the ship is down for routine
servicing like engine overhaul/swap out. Of course, you need to be in
their location, too. At one point they were based in Stow, Mass, about
3 hours south of me. I think they have them based in Florida.

I think the working Command set display you mentioned will be a great
way to expose folks to the correct gear and perhaps you can use it to
open a dialog with the Collings folks and see where they stand. Most
of them are volunteers who take time off to tour with the aircraft.
The last I knew, they were very open to the idea and just lacked
knowledgeable people to do the work and necessary items.

Let us know how it goes, and be sure to get some pictures.