[Milsurplus] BC-342 / 312 vs BC-348

[Nick England]

18,000 B-24
10,000 C-47



Nick England K4NYW
Chapel Hill NC
www.navy-radio.com


On Thu, Oct 23, 2025 at 10:47 AM Ray Fantini via Milsurplus <
milsurplus at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

> approximately 4,735 B-17s were lost out of the 12,731 built, a total of
> 414 B-29s were lost, with the majority (267) due to mechanical failures,
> engine fires, and operational accidents, while 147 were lost to enemy fire
> from Japanese anti-aircraft guns and fighters. At least that’s what Wiki
> tells me. The percentage of losses for the B-17 exceed the B-29 by a factor
> of ten. B-24 were higher then that, Wiki dose not have production number
> for the Liberator but says 3,500 B-24 Liberators were lost with the highest
> percentage rate for the war. Over 73 were lost in a single raid against oil
> fields in Ploiești, Romania alone.
>
> Think around 7,000 B-24 were built, 13,000 B-17, 4000 B-29 and just under
> 10,000 B-25 Mitchells, 5,000 B-26 Marauder and not taking into account
> transport and cargo aircraft that’s around 39,000 aircraft that would have
> BC-348 receivers.
>
> Looking at that would assume that I was wrong about BC-342/312 numbers in
> comparison to BC-348 production numbers and would tend to think that the
> overall production number of 120,000 receivers may be correct.
>
>
>
> Estimated production numbers for the BC-342/312 receivers produced for the
> SCR-299, SCR-399, and SCR-499 radio sets built between 1942 and 1945 is
> 14,706  units but that’s not taking into account receivers produced for the
> SCR-287 (BC-342/312 receiver and BC-375 transmitter) installations. Western
> Historic Radio says the GE received a contract to build 100,000 BC-375
> transmitters, if just 20,000 were used in aircraft how many went to SCR-287
> installations and required BC-342/312 receivers?  And don’t forget one of
> my favorites just due to its three hundred pounds of radio for less than
> ten watts the SCR-245(BC-312 and BC-223)  Before FM replaced the SCR-245 in
> armor and recon that was a go to set.
>
> I have a SCR-245 in the cue for restoration and use as a possible 3885
> base at Hamvention next year but have not gotten to it yet.
>
> Just a crazy speculation but going to say maybe 75,000 or more BC-342/312
> and 314 receivers were built? Don’t know myself.
>
>
>
> Wiki also tells me that 1,450,000 command sets (receivers and
> transmitters) were produced in WW2 along with 47,000 SCR-300 and 130,000
> SCR-536 (BC-611) radios.
>
> Man that’s a lot of radios!
>
>
>
> Ray F/KA3EKH
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net <
> milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net> *On Behalf Of *joldenburg2 at new.rr.com
> *Sent:* Wednesday, October 22, 2025 9:13 PM
> *To:* 'Jim Whartenby' <old_radio at aol.com>
> *Cc:* 'milsurplus at mailman.qth.net' <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
> *Subject:* Re: [Milsurplus] BC-342 / 344 vs BC-348 and the GRR-5 too!
>
>
>
>
>
> I remember reading that it was procedure to pull radio equipment after a
> mission and replace it with a fresh checked unit  to avoid comm problems
> due to tube failure  because of vibration. That and B29s high losses  make
> for a lot of radios
>
>
>
>
>
> Jon  AB9AH
>
>
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