[Milsurplus] Collins Book
Michael A. Bittner
mmab at cox.net
Tue Nov 29 14:12:38 EST 2011
I recall sitting adjacent to the runway at NAAS Saufley Field (near Pensacola, FL) while waiting for a clearance in an ARC-27 equipped T-28B. I was hearing the NAS Jacksonville tower with equal volume to the Saufley Tower (both on common Navy tower UHF frequency) even though I was only a quarter mile away from the Saufley tower. Must have been some kind of tropospheric ducting phenomenon. Mike, W6MAB
----- Original Message -----
From: John Vendely
To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Sunday, November 27, 2011 7:08 PM
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Collins Book
There are probably a few ARC-27s still flying in warbirds. I repaired
one (and an ARN-21C TACAN) a few years back for a guy who wanted to run
them in his T-28. Back in the mid 1980s, I was heavily involved with
the Indiana Museum of Military History in the recovery of a Lockheed
P2V-7 (BuNo 148358, civil registration N14835) from AMARC at
Davis-Monthan AFB in December 1984. I took care of all the electrical
systems and avionics on it. We restored the aircraft to original
condition with all ASW and other avionics, and flew it regularly on the
airshow circuit for a number of years. Among the avionics I overhauled
for the project were the ARC-27, ARN-21, ARR-41,ARC-38A, ARC-94, ARC-84,
two ARN-6s (with the electronic tuning servos), APN-22 radar altimeter,
ARN-14 VOR, APX-72 transponder, and AIC-15 interphone system. We even
had a functioning APN-70 LORAN, and though it could not navigate with
the 100 kHz LORAN-C signal, it could receive it, the scope could
display it, and we sometimes had it going while conducting tours through
the aircraft at shows. This vintage gear was readily available in large
quantities at the time, and I managed to assemble a complete lab
equipped with much of the specialized test sets for maintaining this
gear. We used no commercial avionics whatsoever on the plane, a rarity
even in thoze daze.
Many aircraft of this era were being sold out of AMARC at that time for
scrapping by the local operators, and there were huge piles of all the
aforementioned gear sitting around the scrapyards. The Navy allowed us
to pillage anything we wanted from the 80 or so P2Vs remaining at AMARC,
and in addition to spare engines, hydraulics, instruments, control
surfaces, and numerous other sundry parts, we shipped home a huge haul
of avionics and ASW gear to support the program. The stuff was
literally all over the place. On one Tucson trip, we found an ARC-38A
and an ARC-27 lying in the dirt along side the road! We retrieved them,
checked them in with the luggage on the airline trip home, and I used
them both for some time as parts pigs.
Believe it or not, the only functioning radio we had for the ferry
flight from Tucson to Indianapolis was an ARC-27, and we talked our way
clear across the U.S. on that thing, navigating with only the wet
compass. At the time, 319.8 Mc was used as the civil tower frequency,
and FAA flight service was on 257.8, if I recall correctly. No one
questioned our use of UHF. We flew in many U.S. Navy airshows during
the 1987 "75th Anniversary of Naval Aviation" celebrations, and had a
facilities license for the purpose, which allowed us to operate on UHF.
We used the ARC-27 exclusively for communicating with the Naval air
stations we flew into, and I had three overhauled units on the shelf
available for use at the time. The ARC-27 required periodic
maintenance, but it was a great radio, and a magnificent design
accomplishment in its day--a complete break with the technological past.
While at an airshow at Navy New Orleans , I was amazed to discover an
ARC-27, ARN-21, and ARN-6 installed in an older C-130 there. So I can
testify to the fact that the Navy was indeed still flying some of the
old gear at least as late as 1987. I would certainly agree that the
ARC-27 was the most important command set of all time, in that it
represented the beginning of a new era in aircraft radio communications,
was a landmark design, and was produced in enormous quantity, and used
continuously for well over 35 years. Probably no other single military
aircraft radio set was as significant.
BTW, I had great fun operating the ARC-38A, occasionally running phone
patches through stations of the maritime mobile net on 20 meters while
in en route to air shows...
73,
John K9WT
On 11/27/2011 1:21 AM, Mike Morrow wrote:
>> Also interesting stats on ARC-27 ... Of the ~40,000 ARC-27 produced,
>> I wonder if a single one is still operative?
> I've got two AN/ARC-27 and two AN/ARC-55 (un-pressurized version) sets that
> work. The AN/ARC-55 is more fun because the top and bottom covers can be
> removed easily to watch the auto-tune and see the filaments glow.
>
> I'd bet that almost all AN/ARC-27/55 sets were retired worldwide by the late
> 1970s, but there were many of them still in military service in the early 1970s.
>
> The AN/ARC-27/55 gets my vote for the most significant, most important, and
> most technologically innovative command set of all time, even in comparison
> to the A.R.C. MF/HF command sets that we all love. It's absolutely amazing
> technology for a design that's more than 60 years old, and that enjoyed a
> 25-year service life.
>
> Mike / KK5F
>
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