[Milsurplus] Trailing Wire Antenna Query

[Mike Hanz]

That should read Model J antenna wire. Too late for my brain cells, I guess.

On 4/14/2013 11:16 PM, Mike Hanz wrote:
> 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
>
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