[MRCA] USAAF Watch Station Controllers Desk

Sun Apr 12 14:23:26 EDT 2020

Pure speculation but do know a little about modern systems. First would suspect that the ATC center would not have a switch board being that would be in operations. Second as already stated radios and direction finding would be located away from the tower complex remote over telephone lines. Third would be that field modifications happen so over time different radios or communications circuits would come and go so no one can say this is how it was no exceptions. The best you can hope for is trying to set a snap shot of one particular point in time.

I am more along the line of systems like the AN/TSQ-70 family of ATC facilities where being it was brought to a location and set up and not something like a lot of the theater base systems that may have also had a significant amount of items that were sourced or built local.

With that being said would assume that what you may have is a monitor receiver, some line driving equipment like pre amplifiers and post amplification and path fields.

Its too bad in the sense that now we are seeing organizations and museums showing interest in building things like control tower facilities but don't see them building the remote period correct radio or DF facilities. Good thing from there standpoint is with just having to do things like the ATC facility you can do things like use solid state audio playback systems to feed fake radio traffic to the speakers and distribution in those dioramas. I have done some work for a couple museums where we used solid state playback technology for driving all sorts of kiosks and the like. One system was for the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art where we have a walk way thru part of the museum where we have a four channel playback system with duck and water sounds to make you feel just like being in the swamp. Wanted to add misquotes but they did not like the idea.

The thing is now days everyone wants interactive and it's somewhat hard to do that with WW2 stuff being there were no displays native to the time period.

Have had fun building things like the interactive kiosks for the Perdue (Chicken Man) Museum where we have gutted some TV sets from the seventies and installed modern flat panel displays with little Mpeg players that play back TV commercials from the seventies.

You just can't be a proper museum today if you don't have interactive touch screen stuff.

Ray F/KA3EKH

________________________________
From: Captain D. <mkdorney at aol.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 12, 2020 1:21 PM
To: timsamm at gmail.com <timsamm at gmail.com>; Ray Fantini <RAFANTINI at salisbury.edu>
Cc: mrca at mailman.qth.net <mrca at mailman.qth.net>; mhpotterone at gmail.com <mhpotterone at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [MRCA] USAAF Watch Station Controllers Desk

The equipment in the center of the Thurleigh picture may not be a switchboard after all.  There is no evidence of any patch cords attached to that equipment, patch cords that a telephone switchboard needs to function as designed.  So what is the darn thing?  It could be a radio remote/amplifier combination.  We know that the base radio was not located in the tower - that it and it's antennae were located at least a mile away and remoted into the tower via telephone landline.  That signal would more than likely need to be amplified to be audible in any headset/speaker at the Watch Station desk ( hence the amplifier).  We also know that many radio remotes, especially military radio remotes had a built in telephone feature, which would explain the presence of a hand crank to operate the ringer on the other end of the phone line. and the presence of the telephone handset.  Also note the lack of EE-8 field telephones in the picture of Thurleigh.  The headsets/T-17 microphones at the watch desk would eliminate the need for the EE-8s as far as radio communication was concerned if whatever the headsets/mics were plugged into worked through the remote/amplifier combination. and the presence of the telephone on the duty desk in the center of the photo would mean that any airfield  switchboard would not need to be or even desired to be located in the room with the watch desk, or even in the Watch Station in order to provide landline communication to and from the Watch Station.

Mark D.
WW2RDO

In a message dated 4/11/2020 11:00:58 PM Eastern Standard Time, timsamm at gmail.com writes:

Hi Ray - It might be an SCR-624 setup?.  Basically an SCR-522 VHF radio in a chest configured for expeditionary airfields.  Remotely controllable with an EE-8 field phone/wire.  Might make sense for an airfield tower....remote the radio..just have the EE-8 at the controller station.

Tim
N6CC

On Sat, Apr 11, 2020 at 6:41 PM Ray Fantini <RAFANTINI at salisbury.edu<mailto:RAFANTINI at salisbury.edu>> wrote:

Think with a lot of the research back last year or so discovered that most of the radio equipment was located away from the tower and remote back to the tower by phone lines.

Both the older LF/HF and later VHF and it was much later that radios migrated back to the tower. Remember that WW2 VHF base radios were huge rack mounted systems and would be in the way at a ATC center. Perhaps training fields were there would only be one or two frequencies in use they would stuff a radio in the tower?

But would expect not to see too many radios except like in the picture were you see the one BC-348 under the table for the times you need to check some non regular frequency.

Ray F/KA3EKH

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From: mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net<mailto:mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net> <mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net<mailto:mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net>> on behalf of Captain D. via MRCA <mrca at mailman.qth.net<mailto:mrca at mailman.qth.net>>
Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2020 9:09 PM
To: k4ncgva at gmail.com<mailto:k4ncgva at gmail.com> <k4ncgva at gmail.com<mailto:k4ncgva at gmail.com>>
Cc: MRCA at mailman.qth.net<mailto:MRCA at mailman.qth.net> <MRCA at mailman.qth.net<mailto:MRCA at mailman.qth.net>>; mhpotterone at gmail.com<mailto:mhpotterone at gmail.com> <mhpotterone at gmail.com<mailto:mhpotterone at gmail.com>>
Subject: Re: [MRCA] USAAF Watch Station Controllers Desk

I was able to magnify the picture some, and the equipment in the center of the picture does have a hand crank, so whoever called telephone switchboard is correct.  But it doesn't look like anything I've seen before.  It is certainly not a BD-71 or BD-72  I wonder way this switchboard is near an airfield diagram..  The board on the far right in the picture with equipment underneath it has approach paths in degrees written on it.  I wonder what that is about.  The knobs are in the wrong places on the equipment to aid in the turning of what would have been a very sizable DF loop antenna.  Perhaps this gear is not of US army origin.  can the folks at the US Air Force museum in Dayton be of any help.

Mark D.
WW2RDO

"Clothes make the man.  Naked people have little or no influence on society." - Mark Twain

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In a message dated 4/10/2020 2:32:20 PM Eastern Standard Time, k4ncgva at gmail.com<mailto:k4ncgva at gmail.com> writes:

Looks like three LS-3 speakers are mounted in the desktop console too...

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 9, 2020, at 11:08 PM, Captain D. via MRCA <mrca at mailman.qth.net<mailto:mrca at mailman.qth.net>> wrote:

I got this letter from Mike Potter, who is Director Emeritus for the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, VA.  Please take a look at the picture of the USAAF Control Station in Thurleigh, England.  we are looking to identify the electronics in the picture.  and get ideas as to the nomenclature of the radios and what I think is an aircraft radio remote built into the controllers desk.  MAM Virginia Beach is looking to replicate this control room with it's equipment.  Please contact Mike Potter directly at mhpotter at gmail.com<mailto:mhpotter at gmail.com> with all replies.  Thanks in advance for all your help.

73

Mark D.
WW2RDO

"Clothes make the man.  Naked people have little or no influence on society." - Mark Twain

Sent from AOL Desktop<https://discover.aol.com/products-and-services/aol-desktop-for-windows>

________________________________
From: mhpotterone at gmail.com<mailto:mhpotterone at gmail.com>
To: mkdorney at aol.com<mailto:mkdorney at aol.com>
Sent: 4/9/2020 5:29:06 PM Eastern Standard Time
Subject: Hope you're doing OK?

HI, Mark ...

Hope this CV mess finds you well?  What a mess.

I wanted to show you something that I found in one of the files on the purchase of the Goxhill Watch Office.

Back in 2003, when Mr. Yagen bought the tower, and well before he was even thinking of restoring it, an article on the tower being brought over from the UK appeared in an aviation history magazine, and it asked anyone with specific info or photos of WWII US control towers in England to share their info.

One gentleman responded by mail to Jerry after reading it, saying that he had been based at Thurleigh, which was also a USAAF base that happened to have exactly the same design of Watch Office as Goxhill.  Photos were sent, and one photo (attached) is the control desk.

The contrast is not great, but some detail is clear.  Embedded in the vertical riser are three spaced US-speakers (I forget the designation, but we have those)  Also a mic or two, and switches that are a bit similar to some we have.

What I was really curious about are the read-out dials and bits on the lower left rear of the desk down near the floor.  Looks like that was basically the electric panel for the control desk?  Any chance you can identify any of that for us?

If you have not heard, obviously Warbirds Over the Beach is off for May, but we will hold it in October on the same date that we normally use for our WWI show.

If you can make it, please let me know, and I'll make sure a free ticket is waiting for you ...

Cheers,

Mike Potter
<Thurleigh pano.JPG>
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