[Milsurplus] Ocean dumping

[Ray Fantini]

Not having been alive in the second world war or shortly their after I
will have to say this is all my opinion, but its opinion biased on
printed material including issues of QST from  1945 to 49, and numerous
other Radio and Electronic magazines from that time. Let me propose the
following statements:
First: I do not believe in a mass organized effort to destroy by ocean
dumping or burial of surpluses stock of radio equipment after the war. 
There are at least one dozen advertisements in every issue of QST from
46 to 49 for war surplus radio equipment vendors. Both CQ and QST did
many articles on the conversion of surplus radios, CQ use to publish a
monthly column on surplus conversion along with two manuals exclusively
on surplus conversion. I would propose that their was a sizeable
percentage of users out their with a large stock of equipment to support
this.
Second: This is more antidotal then factual, but I recall the large
quantity of surplus equipment at hamfest during the seventies and early
eighties. This was after twenty years of Hams cannibalizing equipment in
circulation so I would assume their was more during the fifties and
sixties. 
Third: Where their was a effort by the government to destroy equipment
they did a good job. All Nazi radio equipment was ordered disassembled
after the war and with the exception of war trophies you don't see a
lot around, compare that with the ARC-5 series that are common today.
Forth: General condition, much of the equipment that was common on the
surplus market appeared to have never been placed in service. With much
of the damage to equipment being from generations of Hams who have
hacked the radios. This would lead me to believe that the majority of
surplus sold after the war was NOS, from the last production runs. 
I do not deny that their was mass dumping of equipment in theater,
especially where it was not economically feasible to transport that
equipment back to the states, and am also aware that for decades it was
standard practice to dump excess or expired munitions in the ocean, but
do not buy the statement that countless tons of brand new equipment was
just dumped with no effort to surplus out.
And finally understand that I do not intend to contradict the living
testimony of those who were their, but how many times have we all been
told the story of LO direction finding? I will accept that much radio
equipment was scraped, and some may have been dumped or burned, but I do
not feel that ocean dumping of new radios was a government policy.
Ray Fantini KA3EKH