[Milsurplus] C-405A/A vs. C-740/ART-13

[Michael Tauson]

On 9/19/07, Hue Miller <kargo_cult at msn.com> wrote:

> Michael: does this "Navy 348" have any additional tag on it?

Ummm ... one from Pensicola NAS dated 1st quarter 1965 and whatever's
between the R and RT (in the order of O M R ? RT T and N) done to it.

> Why the SO-239? Doesn't that mean more of a ground based receiver?

I don't know.  It had a 24v dynamotor in it (I asked that not be
mailed to be due to the addd weight.) which suggests an aircraft
installation.  Suggests, doesn't flat out deny any other possibility.

I have the two control panels Larry had up for sale a couple weeks
ago.  One has a two position switch marked "Normal - LF T/R" and two
indicators to show what was attached to a fixed antenna and what to a
trailing wire antenna.  The other is for a trailing wire reel motor
something like the switch box for the RL-42 but without the turns
counter.  (Both need new switches, by the way.  Gotta fix that one
day.)  They are perfect mates to the C-740 control head.  I can find
nothing the even resembles a remote control version of the antenna
switch like the older knife switch or the internal one in the CU-32.
In any case, this would have gone into heavier aircraft (PB4Y, for
example) since the small ones didn't have LF capability nor did they
have a trailing wire antenna.

Did the SO-239-equipped BC-348-Q go with this?  Possibly.  I have no
idea.  On the other hand, what was used with the TCZ?

> I would think that if the Navy really used the modified 348 in the air, we
> would see a lot more of them around.

Depends on how many were modified.

> Is the ARB really such a bad match to the ATC, i wonder? Many, maybe
> most of the ATC installations were in small-crew, "expendable" warplanes,

Everything is expendable, including flag officers.  (Or, as a
gentleman I knew who retired as a Vice Admiral said, "especially flag
officers.")

Anyway, I think the ARB-ATC combination was used more broadly than
just the TBM & SB2C - both aircraft large enough to carry someone who
was also a radio operator - but those are the ones that got the R-26s
and, later, R-27s with the Yardeny tuners.  These aircraft needed the
transmit power for the same reason patrol aircraft did, to be able to
report back what they find.  Autotuned receivers made life easier for
them when things got busy in their multi-hatted "offices".

I wish someone would hurry up and create a way back machine!

BEst regards,

Michael