[Milsurplus] Chicken or Egg Question

[Michael A. Bittner]

My BC-906 plate says ESPY MFG. CO. INC.  Mike, W6MAB

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: J. Forster 
  To: WA5CAB at cs.com 
  Cc: arc-5 at mailman.qth.net ; milsurplus at mailman.qth.net 
  Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2010 8:42 AM
  Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Chicken or Egg Question


  I have the feelingt (unproven as yet) that some companies specialized in
  certain systems.  For example, the Rebecca stuff (AN/APN-2) and test sets
  BC-906,...) were all made by Philco. I trhink they made IFF gear also.

  FWIW,

  -John

  ==============



  > I agree with John, except to say that the companies which built the
  > SCR-211
  > weren't small unknown companies by the standards of the day.  All were
  > well
  > established pre-war and had histories of dealing with the Army and Navy.
  > While favoritism may (I've no evidence that it did) determine which one
  > got
  > which contracts, none particularly needed any help getting business after
  > 69
  > years ago yesterday.
  >
  > I found my list of contractors:
  >
  > CBK Cardwell built one model (-B)
  > CIY Rauland built 4
  > CPR Philco built 8
  > CRR Bendix built 4
  > CZR Zenith built 9
  >
  > In a message dated 12/8/2010 10:11:49 PM Central Standard Time,
  > jfor at quik.com writes:
  >> Perhaps, but I'm not entirely convinced:
  >>
  >> Because of the huge amount of war production, things were farmed out to
  >> companies that had available production capacity.
  >>
  >> During the 30s, radio receivers were a hot commodity and many small
  >> companies sprung up to assemble them. Building a BC-221 is not so
  >> different than a 30s vintage high end broadcast receiver. These smaller
  >> companies were a logical fit for smaller production runs, like the
  >> BC-221.
  >> Bigger outfits would build ARC-5s and even bigger outfits complete
  >> airplanes.
  >>
  >> Bottom line is, altrhough politics is awlays an issue with government
  >> projects, I'm unconvinced the contractors were politically chosen.
  >>
  >> FWIW,
  >>
  >> -John
  >>
  >> ==============
  >>
  >>
  >>
  >> >There were so many models of the BC-221 because there were
  >> >a lot of congressmen who wanted jobs in their districts.
  >> >
  >> >As it was in WWII, so it is today:  it's not totally about who
  >> >can build what to specification.  It's also about which congressman
  >> >gets how much pork to take home to the folks.
  >>
  >
  > Robert & Susan Downs - Houston
  > wa5cab dot com (Web Store)
  > MVPA 9480
  >


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