[Milsurplus] Trailing Wire Antenna Query

[Mike Hanz]

I can't speculate on the exact year transition may have begun between 
manual reels and the powered version, but I think Taigh may be correct, 
at least in one sense. The manually powered crank reels seem to have 
hung on longer in Navy aircraft than in the USAAC aircraft.  Certainly 
Bendix was a big market for the Navy, and they installed thousands of 
their products in Navy aircraft without nomenclature modifications.  On 
the other hand, the 1936 NRL Radio Materiel School publication for Navy 
Aircraft Radio does show some of the developmental thinking. Hard to say 
which came first - the Bendix reel or the Naval Air Facility (NAF) 
reels.  There seems to have been somewhat of an incestuous relationship 
between the two organizations.  Details at 
http://aafradio.org/docs/1936_NRL_Antenna_Reels.pdf if you're 
interested, including the characteristics of Model 12 antenna wire at 
the end.

On the powered side, one data point has the mid-1944 Line Maintenance 
Manual for the PB4Y-2 listing the BC-461/RL-42 in the compliment.  
Paradoxically, once the Navy went "modern" with the electric motor 
powered Army reel and control, the Navy versions of the BC-461 were 
painted black, while the Army versions were painted battleship gray.   
Strange things happen in wartime... :-)

     73,
  - Mike

On 4/14/2013 7:35 PM, Mike Morrow wrote:
> Taigh wrote:
>
>> Our 1945 Lockheed PV-2D Harpoon used a Navy MT-5 manual reel and I
>> believe that most pure navy aircraft did too.
>> Here is a good shot of one in what I believe is a Buccaneer
>> http://aussiemodeller.com.au/Images/History/Lang_Vengeance/109.-Cockpit-LH-Rear_V.jpg
> Well, no one has better credentials than you, but...that shows a
> Bendix *commercial model* MT-5E reel...nothing of distinctly USN
> (or even military) pedigree.
>
> I'd be hesitant to expect that this commercial gear was in many USN
> aircraft types.  I've seen quite a number of WWII USN aircraft photos
> that show the BC-461/RL-42.  For example, Mike Hanz has an excellent set
> of photos of a 1944 PB4Y-2 aircraft radio installation in which the
> BC-461 is shown at the radio operator's position:
>
>    http://aafradio.org/sidebar/PB4Y2_Line_Maintenance_Manual.html
>
> But still, it would be interesting to know what the USN used before
> adopting (apparently) the BC-461/RL-42 trailing wire.
>
> Mike / KK5F