[Milsurplus] PB4Y-2 photo

[Mike Morrow]

>> Also, what is that 3 ( or 5 ? ) position control box mounted by itself on the wall?
>
>It's the reel control box for the trailing wire antenna.

It's the USAAF BC-461, no doubt leading to a USAAF RL-42-B reel.

In this PB4Y-2, it's gratifying to see other USN use of USAAF gear,
such as the excellent SCR-269-F ADF.  It had to beat the USN-native
archaic DZ-series of aircraft RDFs.

I also suspect that the USAAF AN-104 VHF mast was used for the VHF
antenna.  The AN-104 has amazingly flat VSWR from 100 to 156 MC.  I
don't know what the item is that protrudes down from the overhead,
directly above the MD-7/ARC-5.

There are two AN/ARR-2 photos, but they must be from different
aircraft.  One is in a MT-7/ARR-2 single receiver rack, another in
a MT-7A/ARR-2 rack.  The MT-7 lacks the front audio bus jacks and
the associated switch that the MT-7A has.

The R-23/ARC-5 also has the MX-19/ARC-5 audio adapter for the AN/ARN-9
Air-Track ILS.  Doubtless, that had been abandoned by the time this
aircraft was being built.  I know of nothing else other than this ILS
that used the MX-19.

Mike, on closer look I agree that the RAX-1 antenna lead does not go
through any clamps routing it downward.  It appears only to not yet
have been routed up to the ATC at this stage of installation.

It's stating the obvious, but it looks like the liason set was the ATC
and RAX-1, with an R-26/ARC-5 as a backup liason receiver (even
though it used a different antenna that was shared with the ARB/ATB).
The VHF AN/ARC-5 provided VHF command set function, and the ARB/ATB
provided HF command set function.  I don't see anything that indicates
that the ARB could have provided a liason receiver function, since
there appears to be no radio operator's control box and tuning head
for the ARB at the radio operator's position.

Mike / KK5F