CW would be used for long range coms - messages back from and to the headquarters or airfield/ship the aircraft were flying to or from, for some radio navigation,  enemy spotting reports or emergency comms, like an SOS. Phone was used for shorter range coms - inter-flight/Squadron/Group in flight, and was mostly the perview of the pilot/copilot, or in an emergency traffic ( like an SOS).  Of course this could/would change with single seat/ smaller fighter/bomber aircraft. One thing about the radios in most of these aircraft: while the pilot had access to a CW key as part of the pilots control boxes of radio sets of radio sets like the SCR274-N and AN/ARC-5, these CW keys had to have been some of the worlds worst CW keys.  Compound that with the fact that while the pilot did have to communicate to other stations besides their own aircraft, the pilots two primary jobs were to fly and fight the aircraft, and were much of the time way too busy to be screwing around to concentrate on taking the time tapping out messages to other aircraft /ground stations while flying/fighting their aircraft. Voice, while perhaps not having the range of CW, was simpler and quicker. Aircraft radioman were normally not as busy, provided they were’t manning a defensive position shooting at enemy aircraft.  

Mark D. 
WW2RDO

“In matters of style, float with the current. In matters of Principle, stand like a rock. “.   -   Thomas Jefferson 

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 2, 2025, at 5:59 AM, Doran Platt via ARC5 <[email protected]> wrote:


FWIW, my late Uncle John was a radio op on a B-24 "Hap 'n Hank".  He related that they, in the SW Pacific used cw for actual traffic. Voice for inter-group.  My one regret was that he never got to see my SCR-387 setup.  Well... maybe more...
K3HVG
On 10/01/2025 1:43 PM EDT kgordon2006 <[email protected]> wrote:
 
 
As I understand it from a previous exchange on the ARC5 forum, CW was very seldomly used for communication.
 
Most was done by voice: AM in those days.
 
Sometimes, CW was used unofficially in bombers (B-17, etc.) to signal the home airfield that they were on their way back.
 
But this info is anecdotal, not official.
 
Ken W7EKB
 
 
 
 
 
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G, an AT&T 5G smartphone
 
 
-------- Original message --------
From: Mark K3MSB <[email protected]>
Date: 10/1/25 10:13 (GMT-08:00)
To: "Military Radio Collectors Association ([email protected])" <[email protected]>, ARC5 <[email protected]>, List Milsurplus <[email protected]>
Subject: [ARC5] SCR-287 (BC-375 & BC-348) WW II Operational Question
 

Hi Everyone

Was there any preference to the mode used during missions? I'm specifically referring to the time before bombers were equipped with the SCR-522.

I checked my books and did web searching, but was not able to find an answer. I find numerous references to HF frequencies used, but nothing that indicates voice or CW.

73 Mark K3MSB

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