[Milsurplus] PBY Catalina radios, more

[Mike Morrow]

Hue wrote:

>More than 20 years back Chester Wisner of  Mass. state, told me of
>some of his experience flying as RO on antisubmarine flights from
>E Coast USA to Caribbean...He said the Catalina was updated in 1943
>to BC-348 and ART-13 from the previous GO + RU type setup. Yes, 1943.

One reason I like this mailing list is that I'm always learning things
I didn't know.  I had always assumed that any USN aircraft with a BC-348
installation had to have some USAAF connection in its history.  But
John/W4THV and you have reported BC-348 installations in USN aircraft
that apparently never had any USAAF service.  That's the sort of info
that I find fascinating.

What surprises me is that USN beauracracy didn't prevent USN use of the
superior USAAF equipment in aircraft that did not already have it in
place.

That leads me to ask, if anyone reading this should happen to know:

(1)  Was the USN system typically a standard USN ATC or T-47/ART-13, with
the BC-348 simply connected in the system as if it were an RU or ARB
(i.e., no MONITOR-NORMAL switch and no electrical receiver muting, only
receiver antenna input grounding while transmitting), or did it also drop
receiver HV during transmit like the USAAF AN/ARC-8 system does?

(2)  Was it a full-lown "official" AN/ARC-8?  That would normally mean that
a T-47A/ART-13 calibrated in 1 kHz intervals would be used (instead of the
coarser-calibrated ATC or T-47/ART-13) and the interconnections would include
a MONITOR-NORMAL switch at the BC-348.

I have a CU-32/ART-13A painted in USN gray, so apparently the USN used some
AN/ART-13A components.  I have in storage a BC-348 with USN markings on
the front panel.  I have never seen a T-47A with USN markings, though.

I've seen a fair number of USAAF T-412/ART-13B transmitters.  Most (not all)
were modified USN ATC, ATC-1, or T-47/ART-13 units, rather than USAAF T-47A
units.  Some of those ex-USN T-412s have been upgraded with the T-47A
improvements and have the HF VFO Dial B vernier scale, but many do not.

>The USAAF equipment he considered vastly superior to the Navy equipment.

I believe that assessment still holds water today.  The AN/ARC-8 was the
finest airborne LF/MF/HF set in the world, at least until the early 1950s when
the USAF AN/ARC-21 and USN AN/ARC-38 appeared.  (I guess the post-war USN
AN/ARC-25 (AN/ARR-15 and AN/ART-13) gives the AN/ARC-8 some competition too). 

Mike / KK5F