[Milsurplus] LMs BC 221s and ART 13 Franken-mounts

[Boeing377]

The late Doug Lacey, who was killed in the crash of his restored USN PV2 Harpoon, made a very respectable looking ART 13 Franken-mount out of parts from easy to obtain mounts for other gear. Doug was a genius at finding obscure surplus parts and even he couldn't find a reasonably priced ART 13 mount. He showed me a stash of ARR 15 mounts and plugs at an aircraft parts dealer and I bought only one of each unaware of their rarity. 

I have an unmodified LM with an ACPS that was surplus from Douglas Aircraft and was used in their avionics lab into the late 60s. I paid $20 years ago. It is still spot on to the calibration book numbers. I've never had to repair or tune anything inside the case. It is obsolete but I still enjoy using it.

BC 221s are still numerous and considered useless by many. I still see them for $10-$20 at swap meets and most go unsold. I don't lose much sleep if a BC 221 is hacked.

In the early 1970s I attended a preview of a DOD surplus auction at Alameda NAS in CA. A huge qty of ART 13s and LMs were up for bid. They were listed as overhauled. The LMs (must have many hundreds of them) were beautiful, literally indistinguishable from brand new. The ART 13s were wood boxed and foil wrapped. Obviously some hams had been there before me and had ripped open a few ART 13s. They were really awful cosmetically, no exceptions. Dirt and grime had been painted over with spray paint, crude lettering had been painted on the front panel indicating some mod, etc. The OH contractor obviously had no pride or care. Dreams of pristine OH'd ART 13s were shattered. They also numbered in the hundreds. My recollection is that the lot of ART 13s went for about $34 apiece (only offered as one lot) and the LMs went for about $6 each all in one lot. They were likely all scrapped. 

73,
AF6IM
www.parachutemobile.org