[Milsurplus] [ARC5] RT-427/ARC-39

[Mike Morrow]

Scott wrote:

> ...the ARC-39 is strange indeed, given that it was BUILT in the
> mid to late fifties.  (I have an example that was built in 1959)

Scott, have you come across any AN/ARC-39 item that was *earlier* than 1959?  All RT-427 and C-2241 units that I've seen were built under contract NOas 59-0246 from 1959, and have a 1959 date stamp on them.

It seems possible to me that the MF/HF AM AN/ARC-39 was procured as a smaller lighter lower-power unit to serve rolls similar to that served by the much earlier AN/ARC-59 (RT-380/AR, Collins 18S-4A).  (My RT-380/AR is stenciled with "VR-1", a Fleet Logistics Support Squadron for USN/USMC VIPs at Andrews AFB.)  It is easier, as you say, to understand the use of sets like the AN/ARC-59 and AN/ARC-39 in logistics support aircraft.  The same is true in training aircraft as well.  In 1972 at NAS Corpus Christi, TS-2A aircraft carried the AN/ARC-2* with R-23*/ARC-5, and T-34 aircraft carried the AN/ARC-60 (A.R.C. Type 12 UHF-AM).

Mike / KK5F