COLIN LAMB wrote:
Whenever I ship old WW II surplus gear, I feel guilty packing it well (but I
do, anyway). It is rather odd that they were designed to survive flak,
bullets, rough landings and severe turbulence, yet we worry about them not
surviving a trip in the UPS or USPS truck with good shock absorbers over
paved roads.

I wonder when the last BC-191 was pulled from service? I had a friend who
told me they were still using them in the 60's.

In good condition, they are worth whatever you paid for it.

73, Colin K7FM



Colin,
Good question. It appears the BC-191 was stricken from the logistics
support list in/about 1955. In the early 50's RTCA Proceedings, the
likes of the ART-13 and other non-crystal-controlled equipment were
being called into question and removed from aeronautical service
(frequency stability and spectrum) and that prompted, for example, the
Comco crystal control module that one often sees in ART-13s. The USAF
and Navy did have some ART-13's still used in acft up into the 60's. In
about 1959, as a CAP Cadet, I fired up an ART-13 and BC-348 on a C-47 on
a famiz flight from ADW to Wright-Pat. My current Navy ATC-1 was
surplussed out of Moffet in 1976! The frequency card has a date of
1963. That's probably why it worked when I got it. Even that seems
awfully late, given that SSB was the thing to have at the time. I
suspect that a lot of the older gear was still in operational (esp.
C-47/R4D) vintage acft but not really used. Finally, in TM 11-487A (also
T.O. 16-1A-3), Directory of Radio Communications Equipment, dated August
1950, the BC-191 and the associated SCR-series using them are still
listed. The BC-375 and associated SCR-series are deleted, however. In
the 1955 issuance, they are both deleted. Maybe that sheds some light?

de K3HVG