[Premium-Rx] WJ / DRS Gaithersburg is closed

[Terry O']

There is a long history of "crimes" like this.

My old friends from Chicago tell me that after WWII was over, 
Hallicrafters had uncompleted contracts for receivers, transmitters, 
spectrum displays...  Rather than cancel the contracts, Hallicrafters 
was told to continue manufacturing the radios, which they took out into 
Lake Michigan and dumped overboard.  I don't know if this is radio 
legend or fact, but I've heard the story from a variety of people over 
the years.

I also heard that an LTV plane equipped with WJ manufactured receivers 
was brought to Greenville, TX, parked in a corner of the field and left 
to rot.  Judging from some pictures people have sent me of LTV equipment 
over the years, some of these radios might have made it out after many 
years of exposure to the elements.

It's also pretty easy to find pictures of the USS Pueblo on the net as 
it sits on display in North Korea with many pieces of WJ gear and things 
like URR-51s still prisoners bolted inside, all beat to hell and half 
stripped.

The internet will also yield pictures of more WJ radios scorched and 
half incinerated inside the ravaged USS Liberty after it was hauled back 
to safety from the "errant" attack during the Six-Day War.

Many of these radios were tools of national security and many never made 
it to a pampered retirement on the warm, protective benches of adoring 
radio hobbyists.

Terry O'
http://Watkins-Johnson.terryo.org
http://BlackRadios.terryo.org



On 1/26/2015 7:14 PM, Walter Salmaniw wrote:
> What a shame, and IMHO almost a crime.  To just incinerate and bulldoze
> such a wealth of the best of American technology is crazy.  It brings to
> mind what happened here in Canada to the AVRO Arrow interceptor which back
> in 1959 was destroyed, including all the blueprints and 5 fully completed
> airframes and 20 partially built airframes.   Shame on them!   Walt
> Salmaniw, Victoria, BC
>
>