[MRCA] USAAF Control Tower Conundrum

[mkdorney at aol.com]

Hello Everybody,

        I've gotten into trying to aid a The Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach VA in restoring the USAAF Control Tower ( Watch Station ) from RAF Goxhill that the museum has disassembled, shipped here, and reassembled on their airfield here.  We're having a little trouble determining exactly what specific radios should be in the tower.  RAF Goxhill was built as an RAF Bomber base in 1940.  It was later used by Fighter Command, and was last used, just before the base was turned over to the USAAF in early 1942, as a Target Towing Station.  I have a digital copy the Signal Section Handbook for VHF radio operations (1943) put out by the Signals Section, Patterson Field ( later re-named Wright-Patterson Air Force Base) that does a wonderful job listing the coms gear for every station in the Fighter Control System, but doesn't specifically list what radios were in the the airfield control tower.  RAF Goxhill , during WW2, was USAAF station 345.  It was the first RAF airfield turned over to the USAAF during the war.  USAAF station 345 ( RAF Goxhill) was a reception center for new Fighter squadrons coming over from the USA.  They would arrive at Goxhill and train there for maybe a month, getting used to the ATC in England, and getting familiar with the geography of England before moving on to their assigned airfield.
 
     The folks in Virginia Beach really want to do this project the correct way.  They want to set up this control tower as it would have looked when it was in operation in England.  So they're looking at the few pictures they can find of manned Control Tower Consoles, and researching any manuals and other documents they can find to help better determine just exactly was used, radio wise, in a "standard" USAAF control tower in England in 1942 starting with - "Did they use American or British radios? The Military Air Museum in Virginia Beach isn't just looking to show bits and pieces of coms gear shoved behind some glass showcases - they are looking to actually assemble complete and correct  communications gear that would have been in the tower.  Right now there is not plan to get the gear working, but perhaps the MAM could be persuaded into getting the gear working once they actually have all the components for the tower radio sets (once they got all the toys, they're probably going to want to play with them - "Boys and Their Toys" ). And MAM does have local resources to aid them should they wish to actually get the radios working.  I do know at least some of the radios operate on 2 meters.
 
    My thing is vehicle radios.  And while my involvement with this project is beginning to get me familiar with USAAF radios, I'm certainly no expert.  That's where I hope the MRCA comes in
 
   The local Ham contact for the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach is John Cooper,  WB3AYG  in Pungo, VA.
 
Thanks in advance for all the help

 
73
Mark
WW2RDO
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